Undercover Pub Sting

American readers will assume from the title of this entry that it is about some underage kids in the employ of a local police department somewhere who managed to buy booze at a local bar. Actually, when I skimmed this article from DearneToday.co.uk my eye caught "posing as customers," "21" - the legal drinking age in the US, and "received warnings" and I guessed that this was another such story. As these are relatively common I almost skipped it but for the ".uk" in the website address.

This was indeed an undercover sting operation against pubs but for quite a different reason. British authorities were not trying to get beer away from the citizenry, in fact they were trying to get more beer for the people. Let's bask in that phrase for a moment - more beer for the people. OK, not really more beer, just the amount promised with the purchase of a pint. This operation was designed to ensure that consumers receive the full measure when they order beer. And this isn't a toothless bit of law that they are enforcing. Although it doesn't appear that any were issued in this case, shorting a customer's pint can result in a £5000 fine!