No id aged 48, no entry.

[Idontlookyoung]

Decided to carry the night on last night after a friend's party ended.

My 48 year old partner and I were turned away from 2 bars as he didn't have any physical id. My driving license and a scanned copy of his passport wasn't good enough. He hasn't carried his driving license for years since he put his cards on his phone. It was rare that I had my purse on me.

We laughed hard at the ridiculousness of it all as he definitely looks over 40. But seriously? Why scan my driving licence to let me into a bar? They don't need my personal details.

It wasn't even London, it was Reading. Not exactly a cultural hotspot!

It won’t be anything to do with age, it’s to keep punter’s details on file should they ever need it for a crime report.

Yes, sorry not age related, they just want to be able to see if you are on a banned list! Which is quite good practice!

Or an excuse to turn him away

Then they need to be upfront about that.

Another example of the majority being punished for the tiny minority.

Are you meaning an actual digital license, or just a photo?

Was he the worst for wear OP? Be honest as there’s no way he be ID for age being 48!

Did they tell you it was because they thought you were under 21?

Once they’ve asked for ID, they need to see it. They will probably have a policy of asking everyone.

I always carry ID because I get asked for it fairly frequently. Nights out are common for it for both checking for age and for known people they don’t want to admit.

To be honest it may just have been a good excuse not to let you/ him in. If it was a busy place they might be informally told to screen out people whose faces don't fit if there's a legitimate excuse. They can't tell him he's too old looking but they can say no id, no entry.

Did they want to just see the ID or to store a copy? I would have thought there were legal implications if they were actually storing data but just seeing it should be ok.

Yes or this, if he seemed to have already been drinking.

It’s not a punishment, though. Say a crime occurred in the bar, or someone was injured or something. The police might want to trace you as a possible witness. They can more easily do this if they have your details on file.

Apart from age verification and security it’s also health and safety. If they scan ID’s on the way in they can keep tab of how many people are in the bar

He wasn't the worse for wear.

Both places were scanning the ids. I have no clue whether they were storing the details or not.

Mine was my physical license. He had no physical id, which is why I showed them his scanned passport. That wasn't good enough.

I worked on the doors for years. No one that asks for ID will accept a scanned/photographed copy of ID, especially if they are scanning it, its too easy to manipulate.

As PPs have said, it won't be for age, but for actual ID to have details of everyone who was in, in case there was trouble and they need to identify suspects and witnesses. For some venues it will also be a condition of their licence.

Also, it will likely be used to show what kind of customers a venue is getting, so they can market themselves appropriately. Different venues will have different retention periods and marketing policies (they might use your DoB for example to send you offers to come back on your birthday) but they won't always (rightly or wrongly) inform the security staff of these.

Sorry it happened tho, it does suck, as its not a universal thing here and does often catch people unawares.

My husband was ID’d in a US Safeway supermarket when buying a bottle of wine. He was 46.

Lots of places ID everyone these days, regardless of age.

It can be a good idea to carry an ID on your person, regardless of age. An ID can be useful in many situations.

I see this note on my Tesco home delivery list. I dont buy tobacco or alcohol so Im wondering what its about. As I am 81 it cant be age related. The drivers eems to know nothing about it.

It may have been a condition of licence that all customers are age verified. Licensing authorities can and do use mystery shoppers to verify compliance.

All of these measures are in place to protect children.

Reading used to get seriously rowdy on Saturday nights a few years back.

One of the things introduced to deal with it was ID on bars and clubs for everyone.

No ID. No entry.

It worked. Sorry you had an issue but the town's a lot better for it.

They don’t store it long term, they store it while you’re there, like in a hotel in a major city. It’s just in case you do anything illegal/that costs money.

It’s the same as Amazon asking when you’re obviously over 25, although I think the drivers are a bit more lax because they just want to do the delivery. If they scan they need physical proof.

Where in the world was this?

Am curious. I'm 51 and haven't been asked for ID since I was about 21.

It’s happened to me in the USA, no id no alcohol.