Garages and petrol station forecourt shops across Scotland may be forced to stop selling alcohol within two years under new laws.

Licensing chiefs in Glasgow are the first in the country to have signalled their intention to prevent garages selling alcohol unless the premises can prove it is the main source of fuel and groceries for the local community.

The 2005 Licensing Act allows all boards across Scotland to introduce the measure and with the country's largest board formally indicating that it will be a matter of policy to refuse permission for garages to sell alcohol most others are expected to follow suit.

But trade representatives have said the policy is meaningless as there is no evidence of any link between drink driving and the sale of alcohol in garages.

They claim that it does little more than punish small retailers, while major supermarkets continue to sell both alcohol and petrol.

Under the new licensing act, which comes fully into being in September 2009, licensing boards have the power to set tighter local controls on how alcohol is sold, with garages mentioned specifically as a category where local authorities have that discretion.

In order not to force the closure of petrol stations in rural communities, which are often the main source of food and fuel, alcohol can still be sold when "persons resident in the locality in which the premises are situated are, or are likely to become reliant, to a significant extent on the premises as a principal source of petrol or derv, or groceries".

But by virtue of Glasgow's size, the city's licensing board, in its draft policy document, claims there is widespread provision across the city and that "no community is reliant in such premises".

Garages looking for alcohol licences, or wanting to continue selling alcohol, would have to prove "similar facilities could not be accessed elsewhere in the city without significant difficulty".

The draft policy states: "If existing garages or petrol station forecourt shops do not fall within this definition, the licensing board must refuse any application and they will no longer be able to sell alcohol from September 2009."

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will meet with the conveners of Scotland's licensing boards to spell out his position on the new bill and what is expected from the boards when the act kicks in. Senior police officers charged with licensing issues will also attend the meeting on September 24.

Mr MacAskill had been criticised publicly by the convener of the Glasgow board, Councillor James McNally, who said it was "an issue of great concern" that he was "in the dark" about the regulations governing how alcohol licences would be administered under the new act.

Councillor McNally continued to criticise Mr MacAskill in the new draft policy statement introduction, claiming the Justice Secretary refused to meet him and that the Scottish Government has "severely compromised" Glasgow's intention to give stakeholders sufficient time to digest the document as it was dragging its heels on final detail on the transition to the new act.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We can confirm there will be a meeting."