POLICE Scotland have settled a legal wrangle with the distributors of Buckfast by apologising for asking a shopkeeper to stop selling the controversial tonic wine.
The force has also agreed not to include the product, often associated with violence, in anti-crime bottle-marking schemes unless it has "reasonable grounds" for doing so.
Last year, moves to add labels to the drink to allow officers from the former Strathclyde Police force to trace bottles back to where they had been purchased infuriated Buckfast distributors, who branded it a "form of ethnic cleansing of brands of alcohol that police and politicians don't like".
Lawyers for J Chandler & Co took the case to the Court of Session claiming that the labels were being used illegally and in a way that discriminated against the brand. The two sides have now settled the case almost a year on, without any judgment from the court.
Police Scotland, which took over Strathclyde's responsibilities last April, has now apologised to Buckfast for the actions of an individual officer who tried to stop a retailer from stocking the tonic wine. It also apologised for any "distress or inconvenience" caused to the shopkeeper and, in a written undertaking, Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Mawson said police "will not request licensed retailers to cease stocking for sale Buckfast Tonic Wine".
Jim Wilson, spokesman for J Chandler & Co, said: "We accept the apology and we believe it to be very sincere."
A Police Scotland spokesman said: "We can confirm there has been an amicable settlement between Police Scotland and the owners of Buckfast."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article