UNDERAGE drinkers are increasingly persuading adults including their parents to buy them alcohol, police believe.

Officers are this month launching a campaign aimed at stopping ‘proxy’ sales of wine, beer and spirits, which they believe is on the up.

Two years ago, police launched an operation targeting licence holders selling alcohol to under 18s.

But now, following the success of the scheme, police believe proxy sales have become the main problem, as well as children using fake ID.

Buying alcohol for someone under the age of 18 is illegal and punishable by a £5,000 fine and a criminal record.

Shopkeepers and licence holders said proxy sales would be almost impossible to stop unless officers went undercover and witnessed the problem themselves.

Police licensing officer Tony Cope said: “A lot of people don’t realise it’s an offence to buy alcohol for someone under 18.

“Because we’ve hammered home to the licensees in Oxfordshire that they must check the age of teenagers before selling them alcohol, we have moved the problem on.

“There has always been a problem with proxy sales but this has now increased. In a few cases its the parents buying it for the youngsters.”

Mr Cope said the problem was so hard to detect, there was little officers could do other than raise awareness among adults.

They have designed posters to warn shoppers and parents of the law, and will be urging licence holders to keep an eye out for the problem.

The campaign begins in West Oxfordshire during alcohol awareness week starting on Monday, October 18.

Mr Cope said teenagers could easily get hold of novelty identification over the Internet, which shopkeepers often accepted if they do not have time to look properly.

He said some teenagers were also carrying legal driving licences with the wrong information, which is classed as fraud.

Jas Khatri, of the Oxford Off-Licence in St Clements, said: “If someone over 18 comes in and buys alcohol, how are we to know if they are going to give it to children?

“The only way the police are going to tackle this is if they go undercover and witness it themselves. It will be very difficult to tackle.”

Bharat Dalal, manager of Old Man’s Premier in Courtland Road, Rose Hill, said: “It is a major problem, we always get people trying, some you catch, some you don’t.”