70 per cent of local bars and restaurants underpouring wine

Officers carry out regular inspections of licensed premises and recent checks revealed that seven out of ten test purchases resulted in short measure being delivered.

Visits to bars and restaurants across the area showed deficiencies of between 2-5 per cent, resulting in a financial loss to some customers of as much as 22p per glass of wine.

The team also found that while all licensed premises were using legally approved equipment, in most cases the bar staff were not using the equipment properly.

Council Leader Rhondda Geekie, had this warning for businesses selling wine: “Our Trading Standards Team carries out these checks throughout the year and will very quickly establish where patrons are not receiving a fair measure.

“These results are disappointing. It is important that local people get what they pay for so I hope that lessons have been learned from this recent exercise.”

The legal quantities for serving wine by the glass are 125 millilitres and/or 175 millilitres or multiples of these quantities.

Licensees who fell foul of these guidelines were given advice on the proper use of brim measures and were issued with written warnings. Officers will carry out follow up inspections to check that improvements have been made.

Trading Standards Officers work with the licensed trade to ensure legal compliance but will report repeat offenders to the Procurator Fiscal for a short measure offence under the Weights and Measures Act which carries a maximum penalty of £5,000 on conviction.

If you suspect that a licensed premises near you is serving short measure then please call 0300 123 4510 0300 and ask for the Trading Standards Team or email them directly on: [email protected]