Buckfast Take Strathclyde Police To Court Over Anti-Crime Bottle Mapping Stickers

Buckfast Take Strathclyde Police To Court Over Anti-Crime Stickers

Buckfast suppliers are taking Strathclyde police to court and have accused them of "ethnic cleansing" over anti-crime stickers shopkeepers are being asked to put on alcoholic drinks

The stickers enable the police to track where a bottle is bought and if it becomes involved in a crime or is purchased by an underage drinker.

Strathclyde Police have previously linked the tonic wine with anti-social behaviour and revealed it was linked to 5,636 crime reports between 2006-2009.

Buckfast, or 'Wreck the Hoose Juice' as it is also known

However J Chandler & Co said the stickers "discriminate" against their product. The suppliers (Buckfast is actually made by monks in South Devon) told the Scotsman: “We have the feeling that it is a form of ethnic cleansing of brands of alcohol that the police and politicians don’t like. If we went away, are they going to say the problem will disappear? It doesn’t add up.”

Mr Wilson added: “What concerns us is that the law-abiding person who buys our product and enjoys it gets stigmatised by this scheme. The police do not have figures to back up any of the reasons for this. The crime figures they have are only in relation to Buckfast, not in relation to any other drinks.”

Guidance issued by Strathclyde police on the bottle mapping stickers does not say that Buckfast itself should be labelled but leaves the placing up to the discretion of the shops and supermarkets to which the stickers are supplied.

Buckfast has been slammed by a number of ministers in Scotland, with Scottish health minister Andy Kerr saying ominously in 2006: "There's something different about that drink. It's seriously bad."

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has also linked the wine with underage drinkers during a parliamentary debate.

The stickers issued by Strathclyde Police

Buckfast has a 15% alcohol content and a 750ml bottle also contains the equivalent caffeine hit of eight cans of coke.

It is also known as 'Wreck the Hoose Juice', 'Commotion Lotion,' 'Buckie Baracas', 'Coatbridge Table Wine'. Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire

Reviews of Buckfast on Amazon include one which calls it 'the Crack-Cocaine of Beverages' and another which writes "Whilst not actually conferring superpowers, it did serve to heighten both one's personal aggression and indifference to lost teeth, broken jaws, black eyes and contused lips.

"More effective than Tramadol, and certainly funnier than Frankie Boyle, two bottles of this will make you believe that Donald Trump and Cuadrilla's heavies are no match for you - when in fact you are rendered punier as the urge to provoke violence grows exponentially more irresistible."

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