Following on the story of the lady who was refused wine at Morrison's checkout because her daughter was helping her to carry the bags to the car - our daughter (who is 31 and heavily pregnant) went back to Tesco's today to get a bottle of wine that she had forgotten when she shopped this morning.  She needed it for her recipe for tea tonight.  She was horrified when she was refused - it has never happened before.  A manager came along and said that it was down to the checkout lady not her!  My daughter left her shopping on the counter and raged out - she had to go to Asda then meaning more time taken up.  She has never been asked to prove her age before.  What is the world coming to?

> A manager came along and said that it was down to the checkout lady not her! 

in fairness that is true, if the checkout lady was found to be serving underage she can be taken to court and fined.

Maybe it's because your daughter was pregnant and buying alcohol?  Just a thought?

If it was for that reason - what a cheek!  There is no law banning women from having a drink during pregnancy.  I know it's frowned upon, but a supermarket shouldn't take the higher moral ground where their customers are concerned.  What next?  Obese people being refused cream cakes? Kids being refused sweets? (imagine!)

although it was probably a bit of a pain in the bum i think i would be a little smug on the sly and have a little peep in the mirror to see if i really looked that young!!!

I agree, I'm sure theres nothing on a shop assistants job description that tells them to judge, Iv seen plenty of pregnant women being served with cigarettes....My younger brother got asked for ID for trying to buy a news of the world at sainsburys the other sunday, the assistant couldnt explain why, just said she had too.

That's funny... I wished that I got asked for ID... Hasn't happened to me is quite some time...

> a little smug on the sly

I think now that she has calmed down and cooked her food I think that is probabally true.  She will have to carry identification in future - or make sure she has her two children with her so perhaps checkout folk won't think she is so young after all!  Her first trip was getting the weekly shop in so adding one bottle of wine to that would not have looked so noticeable perhaps. 

Forgot to add - (just looked at her facebook page which reminded me).  When she finally got her bottle of wine she had the bottom of the bag drop out and the bottle smashed on the ground.  She had to go back in to get another one.  She really wasn't supposed to have it.  Hope her latin-American stew was worth it!

The same thing happened to me a few weeks ago.  I'm 32...and look it!  I just laughed, told the girl on the checkout (who was much younger than me) that I was 32, and she said 'Oh, you don't look it you lucky thing, but I still can't serve you'
Made my day to be honest! :-D

As  a manager in a major retail company, it is a very contentious issue. However, we have to ask anyone that looks under the age of 25. If a checkout operator asks, it is my duty to support that operator in his/her decision. Staff can potentially lose their jobs for serving underage kids so please don't get offended when they do ask. I am positive that being asked for id had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that your daughter was pregnant. All I say to people is carry id, it takes about 10 seconds to check the id, not really an inconvenience to anyone. I have been told by the police licencing officer that when it comes to parents with their children, we can apply common sense, if it looks like a normal weekly shop, allow the sale as the presumption is its the adults that are buying the alcohol. Looks like in the op statement, common sense was definately missing in this instance!! 

i called in to buy cigarettes from a tesco garage last week(for OH, not me) I had my 2 1/2 yr old son with me and i got asked for id!! i was shocked and gladly obliged..im 22 and usually get mistaken for older(thats what kids do to you!!)
I bragged about it for days!!

>>Maybe it's because your daughter was pregnant and buying alcohol?

I can't remember where I saw this, but last week I read about a pregnant woman being refused cheese at the supermarket deli counter. The sales person had taken it upon herself to refuse the sale due to the potential harm it could cause the unborn child. Customer wrote and complained and did receive a full apology.

I got refused craft scissors, when I asked why, the cashier asked if I could prove I was over 25. Slightly shocked, I replied...urm..I'm not? and I walked away without any :( Im 21, so I'm gonna have to wait for the big 2-5 to by my beloved scissors ;)

And I thought you became an 'adult' in the eyes of the law at 21?

I bought a butter a knife and the alarm at Tesco self service went off. It took ages for some one to come to my assistance!!

The ID for wine happened to my best friend on her 30th Birthday , to this day she swears I set it up!!

>And I thought you became an 'adult' in the eyes of the law at 21?

I think it varies according to what laws you are trying to obey, but generally when you reach 18 I think you are considered an adult for everything.  You are certainly allowed to buy and drink alcolhol at 18 and of course vote, some things like getting married etc you can do when you are 16.  There is nothing I can think of that requires you to be 21 before you can do it (you may have to be 21 to be an MP).

> She will have to carry identification in future - or make sure she has her two children with her so perhaps checkout folk won't think she is so young after all!

Have you not heard about the supermarkets' latest policing exercise?  Many of them won't serve you when you're with children on the basis that the alcohol might be for them!  If I had children I would be absolutely furious at being insulted and preached at in this way.  A lot of people who this has happened to have simply walked out of the store leaving their shopping on the conveyor belt for the store to reshelf. This country is fast becoming like the USA.

> This country is fast becoming like the USA.

It is ridiculous there - they won't serve you without ID if you look under 40!!!!!!!!  I think the 25 rule here is daft, 21 yes as many under 18s look older but not 25.
Some people take it to the extreme though.  Once I was getting a few bits and had a bottle of wine amongst it.  I wasn't even far enough in the queue to put my stuff on the belt when the checkout person shouted to me that I needed to be 21 to buy alcohol and was I (and as we all know it's 18 :) so I shouted back 'no I'm not 21, and I can't prove I am.  But I can prove I'm 27.'  She was totally embarrassed and once I got to paying I told her that perhaps people may be rather embarrassed by someone shouting across the store nearly and everyone turning to look.  She apologised, then proceeded to tick me off on her HUGE list of how many people she had checked that day.
Common sense seems to have gone out of the window sometimes, such as the retired gentleman who was refused alcohol as he didn't have any ID.  Ridiculous.

> Many of them won't serve you when you're with children on the basis that the alcohol might be for them!

:-o  At nearly 2 and nearly 5 I should hope not.  Mind you when you hear the youngest asking for a drink in my house he asks for more wine!  My husband told our granddaughter - the oldest one that the red grape juice she was drinking was wine and did she like it (not much common sense my OH!!!)  Since then the youngest who copies absolutely everything the oldest does and says now refers to any drink at our house as wine.  Hope they don't say it in public!

I heard on the radio today (discussing the case of the woman who was not allowed to buy wine at a supermarket because her 17 year old daughter was carrying the basket) that some supermarkets will sell a child-accompanied adult alcohol if the children are young because it's not going to be for them, but not if your children are teenagers, because it might be! Of course, in the home, 17 year old teenagers are allowed to drink alcohol, so it's even more ridiculous not to sell it to the mother.

> Made my day to be honest!

I had the same on my 32nd birthday when buying a bottle of wine to celebrate.. I was so pleased after feeling older all day!

My OH still doesn't believe it happened tho, the cheeky so n so..!

> She will have to carry identification in future - or make sure she has her two children with her so perhaps checkout folk won't think she is so young after all!

Make sure she carries ID. My cousin gor refused the purchase of alcohol not that long ago even though she pointed out she had her teenage daughter with her making it physically impossible for her to be 'underage'. IN the end the manager was called who had the authority to overide the cashiers initial decision to refuse alcohol!!!

:-)

As a person on the other side of the counter so to speak anyone that wants to buy alcohol or cigerettes etc has to either look 25 or be able to produce id that states they are old enough and this is training that all cashiers have to apply or they risk at least on the spot fines of £80 loss of their job or taken to court with a fine up to £5000 would anyone else like to risk these pentalties for what could be a slight error in judgement or would you take the safe route and ask for ID? Saying you thought they looked older is no defence you have to ask for ID.  
Edited to add trading standards do check up on these things quiet often.

> anyone else like to risk these pentalties

Most certainly not - it must add a lot more stress to the job.  My daughter has shopped there for some 4 years and has never been asked for identification before.  It came as a bit of a shock. 
How do trading standards check up I wonder?  Do they stand and watch or do they put an underage looking person through the check-out to catch someone out?   It is all down to individual judgement at the end of the day.   I suppose if you are not so confident at gauging someone's age then you would have to ask for identification each time.  I got given a bag of freebies for the over 50s from the pharmacy the other day - the assistant said - don't worry I didn't go by appearances I checked your age on your prescription!!!!  Very tactful of her.

My 20 year old daughter was not allowed to buy alcohol in a supermarket as she had her 15 year old sister with her, the 20 year old had ID but the 15 year old didn't. She was actually buying it for her gran :-D not her wee sister. To be honest I thought it was sensible that she was asked and refused, she simply went to another shop and left wee sister in the car :-D However if I was refused because my younger daughter was with me and 'I might be buying it for her' I would be furious!

I've cheekily asked the checkout staff at Tesco's to request ID from me when I'm buying wine, they just smile sympathetically  :( :( :( :(

> How do trading standards check up I wonder?

They do test purchases using underage kids. The kids are obliged to tell the truth in age if challenged. These purchases will be watched by a police officer ( undercover) and trading standards officer. If failed then the cashier will be cautioned, questioned and usually offered an on the spot fine of £80. However, if a supermarket fails 3 test purchases in 3 months the supermarket could have its alcohol lisence suspended. This could seriously impact in the viability of a shops survival and potentially jobs. By asking for id for anyone who looks under 25 gives the cashiers the best chance of catching underage kids.

I do think it is a bit of a cheek that we are now asked for ID if we look under 25. So what if we look under 25, even aged under 25, eg 24,23,22,21,20,19 years of age, we are still over the legal age to buy alcohol so shouldnt be asked. A common sense approach would help.

It can be very annoying, I had to leave a weatherspoons one time because I didnt have ID, Im 30....its obvious I wasnt under 18 to everyone that was stood behind that bar but nope, I still had to go, common sense and a pair of eyes is all you need to see the difference between someone in their 30's and an 17 year old, because the only way that bartender would of got into trouble is if I was under 18....ands its clear I wasnt.

> able to produce id that states they are old enough

What is acceptable ID?

I honestly don't mind being asked for ID (and as I'm 30 I find it verrry verrry flattering :-D ) as I understand that checkout staff can be personally fined for serving underage customers, but I do wish some of the large supermarkets would apply some common sense.

I was 'ID'd' a few weeks ago in our local supermarket and luckily had my passport with me as I'd needed it a few days before and it was still in my bag (although I don't routinely carry ID) and so was my friend who was a few people behind me in the queue. She is 29, and also had ID on her, but was refused alcohol because she had her 6 year old son with her, and he didn't have any ID and quite obviously wasdn't anywhere near 18!!! :-(

I can understand a 19 year old being refused when they have a 17 year old friend with them for example, but a 29 year old being refused because she has her son with her is absolute craziness!! We both complained to the store manager but she said (well, shouted at us really) that this is HER new store policy and if you want to buy alcohol then you can't have ANY minors with you at all - even babies!!!

GRRRRR at our local supermarket and it's silly new rule :-(

Are you testing me dogs a babe ? LOL
Photo driving licence
Passport
Citizens ID card with the pass symbol on
Needs to have  a photograph, date of  birth and signature

Of course we could cut out the checkout operators human fallibility and all be served by machines that identify us by some other way but do we really need anymore machines running our lives???? and what happens if they malfunction.

It would be interesting if you could tell the difference just by looking of at someone aged 19 rather than 17 100% of the time. It is also why it was changed from 21 to 25 as that is supposed to be easier

> Are you testing me dogs a babe ? LOL

No I promise!!

Actually it's more that I don't routinely carry stuff that would identify me - except for the downtrodden, harassed mother "No you can't have that" look that accompanies me on every trip to the supermarket with the kids...

As a more general comment to the topic as a whole - I'm no longer going to be mistaken for someone under 25 but I must say I'd be mightily p'ed off at anyone who might suggest I'd be buying alcohol for my children.  I also remain completely unconvinced that this is an effective way to manage underage drinking.  Anyone with a modicum of street smarts wouldn't take the kids along if they suspected they might be checked.

I also have a feeling that introducing your teenaged children to sensible drinking in small or diute amounts with family meals is much more sensible than banning it completely.  The French, who have a more relaxed approach to youngsters drinking alcohol with food do not have the binge drinking problems that we do in this country.  Interesting topic :)

I cant give ID myself as I don't drive my passport is out off date and I don't have an ID card
I have no trouble buying alcohol unfortunately :-D

> no trouble buying alcohol unfortunately

LOL Satincollie!    Who wants to carry a passport around all the time!  That is the only photo ID I own - as for my daughter she is so good at loosing things she is really much safer leaving it all at home.