Simon de Bruxelles of the Times Online asks: When is a drunk not a drunk?  Police have been accused of entrapment after sending amateur actors into pubs to order drinks while swaying and announcing to bar staff in a slurred voice “I’m hammered”.

Two actors visited ten pubs in Bexley, southeast London, and managed to get served in every one of them despite reeking of alcohol, slurring their words, fumbling their change and shoving other customers on their way to the bar.

They later repeated the performance at a conference for local publicans and bar managers who insisted, unanimously, that they would be refused service and asked to leave. They were stunned when a senior police officer revealed: “You’ve already served them.”

Under current legislation, bar staff caught serving alcohol to intoxicated drinkers are liable for an £80 fixed penalty notice or a fine of up to £1,000.

Although the bar staff served the hired actors they can not be prosecuted because they were not actually drunk.

John Madden, chairman of the licensed trade body Guild of Master Victuallers, condemned the exercise as a waste of police time.

He said: ”It is a terrible idea and I am surprised the police think it is worth doing. They cannot prosecute anyone for serving an actor who is pretending to be drunk.

”I’m really not happy with this. At the end of the day it’s entrapment, but it’s entrapment where the staff haven’t done anything wrong because the actor isn’t even drunk.”

The fake drunks were hired from a local amateur dramatic group by Bexley Borough Council and Bexley Police, part of the Metropolitan Police, ahead of a seminar with 100 landlords, club managers and restaurant owners, on drink-related crime.

Chief Inspector Stephen Murrant, who organised the initiative, said: “I am disappointed that despite our efforts to educate and support licensees that staff saw fit to serve two outrageously behaved drunken actors.

“This has come as no surprise. In a recent survey of bar staff carried out in the borough, 98 per cent said they saw drunk customers on some or most of their shifts.

“We routinely monitor what goes on in all our licensed premises and we will be robust in our actions if we find licensees or their staff fuelling alcohol related disorder by serving customers who are drunk.”

Clive Cain, head of public protection at Bexley Council, said: ”Whilst it is illegal to serve a drunk, the law does not define when someone is drunk. This pioneering initiative has demonstrated the ease with which drunks can be served. It has highlighted the urgent need for improvements in training, advice and managerial support for bar staff.”

Section 141 of the Licensing Act 2003 bans the sale of alcohol to a person who is drunk. Bexley Police say the force rarely prosecutes landlords but reports findings to the council, which takes such instances into consideration when considering renewing licences to serve alcohol.

Scott Mackenzie, manager of the Blue Anchor in Bexley, claims it is getting more difficult for landlords because an increasing number of customers are drinking heavily before going to the pub. He claims cheap alcohol sold by supermarkets is the real problem.

He said: ”In my car park, every day we have to clear up bottles of this and that, which people drank before they came to the pub.”

Bexley Police are planning to step up their undercover initiative for the World Cup.

Suzi says:  This does highlight a problem with a lack of awareness and training within licensed premises.  It is ultimately the responsibility of the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) to ensure that staff are aware of the law and the consequences of “ignoring” the law.  With the grandfather rights that were handed out when the Licensing Act 2003 was introduced, many DPS, managers and other Personal Licence Holders are actually totally unaware of what the law says.  There are several courses which are ideal for bar staff and other employees of licensed premises that cover the Act and would also cover a premises with their “due diligence”.  beSmart Training offer courses for Personal Licence Holders as well as the BIIAB Award in Responsible Alcohol Retail (ideal for staff who don’t require a personal licence), and the BIIAB Level 2 National Certificate for Designate Premises Supervisors.