to think Tescos new rule about alcohol is pointless?

[HotCrossCervix]

They wouldn't sell me a bottle of Merlot because I had a teenager with me.

1. A 16 year old is highly unlikely to be swigging merlot. If the adult were purchasing booze for said teenager, vodka or barcardi breezers would be more likely.

1. What if I had a toddler or 8 year old with me? Would they have refused to sell me my wine?

1. The rule is completely pointless. All I did was tell the teenager to wait outside for me, then I went to a different till and bought my wine. I could have done exactly the same and then passed it straight over to the teenager to swig illegally.

So. Completely pointless and nobbish.

And is it a real rule? or just the till chap being an arse? and what are the details of the rule? Any child at all? Any child over 10? Anyone with a moody teenager in tow?

I bought one of those Muller Corner deluxe yoghurts the other day, the rum and raisin one. It says clearly on the front 'contains alcohol'. Wonder if anyone has ever been refused one of those?

It was a bit disappointing, if I'm honest, nowhere near as nice as rum and raisin ice cream.

Good point, treacle.

Maybe they should stop selling over 18 dvd's to people who are also buying nappies.

I would almost be flattered if asked to prove that I was over 18.

You wouldn't topsey. Once I got past 35 it began to feel like sarcasm

As usual supermarket managers and their staff are misinterpreting the law and are making up ridiculous policies as they go along.

I love the Tesco spokesman's stupid comment that "“I can understand the frustrations of the customer but I think that any reasonable parent would understand the problem and support our policy."

Perhaps they should do a survey and find out how many parents are "reasonable" and support their policy that you can only do your weekly shop without children if you ever want to buy a bottle of wine.

Maybe you should also not be able to buy nappies, baby formula or tobacco products in the same trolley at your weekly supermarket trawl.

After all, you could well be going home to fill your baby's next bottle with wine or whisky, right!!! It is ridiculous and all but unenforceable.

Point taken, Fideline. I guess it would be sarcasm too. I would play along with it though.

I bought some 0% alcohol beer (i know - it's gross but it was dry January!) and went through the self scan till and they had to approve it. Ludicrous

Treacle I bought a trifle from M&S once, and had to get it approved on the self scan till, because it had sherry in.

I acually had the thought 'oh, I haven't bought any booze for once, I'll see if I can use the self scan till without swearing at it for the first time ever. Not a chance.

I wonder how many trifles you would need to eat to a. be over the drink drive limit and b. actually get drunk. If someone gave their DC some trifle is this bad because it has alcohol in it, or because it is full of fat and sugar?

It's not (in general) illegal to sell alcohol to an adult knowing or thinking they will or might give it to a child.

It's funny, I have lived in France for 5 years and never once been ID-ed either in a bar or in a supermarket for buying alcohol. Nor have I ever seen anyone ID-ed even though there are signs everywhere saying you have to be 18 to buy alcohol.

At the supermarket on the corner, I once saw a clearly underage boy, who looked about 11, doing a substantial shop among which was a six pack of beer. The cashier asked him who it was for, he said his dad, the cashier let him buy it. Not sure how I feel about this...but France certainly has less of a social problem with alcohol than the UK.

Every time I go back home to the UK, I get ID-ed somewhere or other, usually in a supermarket (I am 31). And since I'm so unused to it, I never have ID on me.

This new development of parents who are clearly way over the age of 18 being refused permission to buy alcohol when they are shopping with teenagers or children seems utterly ridiculous.

I don't blame the cashiers though, if they stand to be personally fined or prosecuted. If the innocent-seeming customer actually turns out to be a trading standards checker, why would they take the slightest risk?

It's the body behind it all that needs to get a grip - is it all coming from Trading Standards? Or is it Tesco themselves or what?

I asked the Tesco delivery driver about this. If my 3 year old helps me with the shopping and wanders off with a beer, or wine, or even a bottle of vodka she would not challenge me about it.

So as I said upthread - home delivery is the way to go if you want to supply your child, including those over 18, with alcohol.

Or indeed if one wants to supply oneself with alcohol but likes the company of oe;s children

I used to work for a company where serving under 18s was a sacking offence (betting shop, not offy but same logic). They sent in test betters frequently. The first time you failed the test bet you got a final warning. The second time, you got sacked. The staff were petrified of serving anyone younger than middle aged!
Agree it is a stupid principle, but the staff will just do what they have to do to keep a job.

I was always a bit over the top with ID-ing people when working in pubs, because I was paranoid about getting caught serving someone underage (or occasionally because they looked annoying and I was hoping they hadn't got ID) but some of the supermarkets are getting silly.

I had to buy disposable plastic picnic knifes for my Dad as DD had carried them up to the till so the shop assistant wouldn't serve them in case they were for DD, because clearly plastic knifes that can't even cut bread are dangerous!

This happened to me too! The girl at the counter asked me for ID (bearing in mind I'm a woman wearing a nurses uniform that looks on the wrong side of 40! I had my 17 year old daughter with me so she must have thought i was buying for her, she said that she was allowed to refuse to sell me alcohol if she thought i was buying for children. I was apppauled! I went to a different till and the guy who served me there told me that the other girl was just being cautious because she could lose her job if i did give it to my daughter...

I was in the supermarket with my MIL, she was buying some spirits to top up her massive booze cabinet but she was told she couldn't get them because I didn't have any ID with me.

I did have my driving license in the car, so I nipped back in with it on my own to get them for her.

It was only as I was leaving for the second time that I realised I had put myself in real danger of becoming the subject of an AIBU thread, trotting out of a busy supermarket quite noticeably pregnant, looking (apparently) under 18 and carrying nothing but bottles of heavy spirits.

I put theDVD, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, in with my shopping once ( cert PG) My DS ( who had just turned 13) was packing for me and the cashier asked him if it was for him. Thinking the cashier was making friendly conversation, DS said that it was and that we were going to watch it that evening.

The cashier refused to sell it to me! After a couple of minutes of arguing with him I asked for the manager, who came and put it through for me.

Not Tesco though, Booths in Lancashire.