Police in Llanelli say they’re concerned at the number of underage drinkers caught at this year’s annual Christmas Carnival.
Although the event passed without any major incident, around fifty underage youths had alcohol taken away from them.
“There were also four girls under the age of 16 who had to be taken to hospital because they had been drinking,” said Sergeant Justin Evans. “The planning for this event has been ongoing for a number of months, and even with crowds numbering about 20,000 it went smoothly. In all there were three arrests for public order related offences and three direction to leave notices were also issued.
“But the sheer numbers of underage youngsters we saw drinking is an alarming trend. “
The police work closely with businesses in the town centre to ensure that the law is followed and that youngsters aren’t being sold alcohol.
“We do work very closely with our local licensees and off licences to ensure that people who are underage are not served alcohol,” said Inspector Eric Evans. “But the lack of supervision of some of these youngsters is shocking and our worry is if it continues, someone could die.
“This was supposed to be a family event, and yet these youngsters were there clearly intoxicated. I would remind parents of their responsibilities towards their children and the fact that alcohol abuse can not only have severe and lasting ill health effects, but can also seriously affect their future prospects.
“As the Christmas season approaches we will be stepping up our efforts to tackle this problem, and parents need to be aware that we will be in touch if their children are caught abusing alcohol.”
