FAILURE to ask a teenager for proof of age cost the owner of an off-licence more than £1,300.

Jagter Sahota, licensee of the Premier Grocery Express, in Hartlepool's Owton Manor Lane, admitted two offences of selling alcohol to a person under the age of 18, when he appeared before Hartlepool Magistrates.

He was fined £400 for each offence and ordered to pay £525 costs.

The prosecution stemmed from when a 14-year-old was allowed to buy bottles of Bacardi Breezer at the off-licence on two separate occasions, without being asked for proof of afe.

The child was an under-age volunteer, sent into the shop by Hartlepool trading standards officers.

After the hearing, trading standards officer Neil Harrison said the case should act as a warning to other town businesses, and he called for more vigilance.

He also revealed seven other stores were under investigation.

He said: "Alcohol contributes to anti-social behaviour, so sales to children will not be tolerated and action will be taken against persons responsible for such sales.

"Mr Sahota, as the licensee and manager of this particular store, is responsible for what goes on and must demonstrate that he has taken the necessary measures to prevent such sales.

"Insufficient measures were in place to prevent these sales occurring and, coupled with the seriousness of the offence, prosecution was seen as the appropriate course of action.''