A booze-marking scheme to tackle underage drinking in Chessington and Tolworth has failed to catch any culprits since December.

Off licenses agreed to label alcohol with a clear sticker containing an ultra-violet code that could be traced back to the shop.

If under 18s were caught drinking, police could shine a UV torch on the bottle and could ask to see CCTV to see who bought it.

Police said that all off licenses in Chessington agreed to take part in the scheme, except Tesco, which had to go through layers of bureaucracy to get permission.

Prince George, store manager at the Tesco petrol station on Tolworth Broadway, said police had asked for permission to mark the bottles last month but he was still awaiting a decision from head office.

The month-long operation ran in Chessington in December and was rolled out to also include Tolworth in March.

But many shopkeepers are confused and believe the scheme is still running almost two months on.

Subas Patel, owner of Choc Box in Leatherhead Road, Chessington, said police officers visited his shop to check the marked bottles last week.

He said: "It’s a silly scheme. It doesn’t mean anything.

"The problem is when grown-ups buy it and give it to the kids, how can I be responsible for that?"

Inspector Ian Goble said police were working with Kingston Trading Standards carrying out test purchases, and handing out leaflets about the consequences of buying alcohol for children.

He said: "Both of the above initiatives saw a considerable reduction in antisocial behaviour linked to alcohol being consumed by youths and, to the best of my knowledge, alcohol seizures were very low with no marked bottle being recovered."

A police spokeswoman said despite no marked bottles being found, the scheme was considered a success and may be rolled out again elsewhere in the borough if they can get funding.

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