More than 500 Scottish licensees have been caught selling alcohol to youngsters in the past year.
Statistics released by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill showed that police caught 561 pubs, clubs and retailers supplying drink to under-18s in the space of 12 months.
Almost 100 of the offences were committed in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire – more than in Glasgow and Edinburgh put together.
However, the boss of one of the UK’s biggest pub chains said last night the penalties handed out to those caught serving 16 and 17-year-olds were “unfair”.
Tim Martin, chairman of J.D. Wetherspoon, said “draconian” crackdowns using under-age test purchasers were adding to the rising pressure on landlords and forcing many pubs to close.
Alcohol campaigners hit out at his comments. Jack Law, of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said: “This is an extremely irresponsible statement. The law is the law and, if people break it, then they should be duly punished.
“This is not the kind of thing you expect to hear from someone selling alcohol. Having a licence is a privilege but that comes with responsibilities, and one of those is to uphold the law.”
Labour’s depute health spokesman, Dr Richard Simpson MSP, said chains such as Wetherspoon had a duty to make sure that youngsters were not getting their hands on alcohol.
“The people who start drinking at a young age are more likely to develop a problem with alcohol later in life,” he said. “So I would dismiss what Mr Martin has said as being totally irresponsible. These people have a duty to make sure under-age customers are turned away.”
With 61 licensees caught selling to under-age customers, landlords in Aberdeenshire were Scotland’s worst, ahead of Glasgow with 53 and Fife with 51. Thirty-four incidents were recorded in Aberdeen, just four fewer than in Edinburgh.
Mr Simpson said he was concerned about the number of irresponsible licensees in the north-east but he welcomed the tough Grampian Police stance on the issue.
The force carries out regularly test-purchase campaigns, sending teenagers into premises to check if they are asked for identification.
Aberdeen councillor Gordon Leslie, of the city’s Alcohol and Drug Partnership, said under-age drinking was contributing to other problems in the region.
He said: “While there are some publicans in Aberdeen who do sell drink to youngsters, the majority are responsible and do well in dealing with the problem. But it is disappointing to hear of so many incidents in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
“Most young people seem to be getting their alcohol from supermarkets, thanks to older people buying it for them.”
Despite the widespread concern, Mr Martin said he believed publicans and licensees got a raw deal
“The crackdown on pubs may actually exacerbate the problems of binge drinking, since it has resulted in more drinking, especially by young people, in the unsupervised environments of parties, streets and parks,” he said.
Mr Martin said it was “absurd” that police were employing teenagers under 18 to try to buy alcohol in pubs.
Local authorities review a landlord’s licence if under-age drinkers succeed in buying alcohol twice within a certain period, with potentially “devastating” consequences for the pubs.
“This sort of entrapment is prohibited in most areas of the law,” Mr Martin said. “It is an astonishing error of judgment to use such draconian tactics against pubs, which are regarded by the great majority of people as extremely valuable social institutions.”
City councillor Bill Cormie, a member of Aberdeen’s licensing board, has been fighting to end drink-fuelled disorder in the city centre. He joined the condemnation of Mr Martin’s comments.
“This is not acceptable from someone leading a company of this size,” he said. “The licensing board have suspended a lot of licences recently, which never used to happen because of a lack of evidence. The use of test purchasers by Grampian Police has been a great help.”