(last week’s edition)
Dear Editor,
In the 20 odd years that I have lived in Portugal, I have frequently found myself thinking, “It could only happen here”. Of course that is far from true, but the reality is that many situations occur in Portugal which make little or no sense to many of us.
Last week’s Algarve Resident offered me yet again a moment of, “It could only happen here”. The reporting on the new alcoholic drinks law was frankly unbelievable.At a time when we are bombarded with health warnings, particularly the over-consumption of alcohol, it seems that the message Portugal is sending out is that it is OK at 16 to drink wine and beer, but spirits have to wait another two years.
I would dare to suggest that in a line up of teenage men or women (boys or girls if you prefer) most people would be hard pushed to determine who was 16 and who was 18.I certainly could not.
So how are the hapless bar owners and bar staff supposed to make that judgement?
Is everyone going to have to show their ID or passport to prove that they are old enough for a Jack Daniels rather than a glass of house red? Good luck with that.
And then there are the young tourists, who habitually do not carry their passports with them to prove their age.
This new drinks law is ill thought out – nothing new there then – and will surely result in the (innocent) business person (bar owner) being fined and potentially being prevented from carrying out their legitimate business for a number of years.
Well done law makers – just what we need – another way to reduce the number of people that are employed!
Mrs J. Carlsson
By email
