A youth club in the village of Guttencoven near Sittard in Limburg has been fined €7,500 for allowing a 15-year-old boy, who was killed while walking home, to drink alcohol.

The boy’s death was an accident but would have been prevented if the right people had acted responsibly, the court ruled. The youth had drunk five half-litres of beer at the ‘t Waeske youth club and was hit by a car on the A2 motorway as he walked home.

‘The club has seriously fallen short of the duty of care it owes this young group,’ the judge said. ‘And no-one from the club board seemed to be bothered if he made it home safely.’

It is illegal in the Netherlands for the under-18s to consume alcohol in cafes and bars or on the street.

The youth club, founded in 1964, is open to midnight on Wednesday and Friday evenings, according to the website. Guttencoven is a village of just 1,300 people. If the club is caught serving alcohol to minor again, it will be closed down for three months, the court said.