To wonder what kids do for ID these days?

[Namechangingchameleon]

Back in the day when I wanted to go pubbing and clubbing underage, clutching a battered copy of my older cousin's birth certificate would suffice.

With the advent of Challenge 25 and the need for photo ID what does a 16 year old do now? Do they just not bother? I don't have kids so wouldn't know.

And don't get all judgey pants please. I'm mid 40s and most of my peers were out underage back in the late 80s. I remember a huge group of us in a night club celebrating our GCSE results.

[Lelania]

I get asked for ID more now at 33 than I did at 14.
I had a fake nus card that I got by forging a teacher's signature but barely needed to use it. I can't buy a bottle of wine with a weekly shop without my passport in sainsburys.

[NotCitrus]

In London you have Zip cards which are for 11-16yos or students and have photos on, and they act as Oystercards. You also need them for 5-10yos to be free on trains, so we spend ages ensuring dn's card goes with him.

Back in the day you'd get an expired Young Person's Railcard and scrape off the plastic, re-write the year, and paint clear nail polish over it. Or just go places where they didn't ask. Most Brighton pubs required you to be 21 to ensure deniability if under-age gay sex happened there, but if you were female they didn't care at all.

[Katedotness1963]

My eldest got a Young Scot card when he started high school.

[StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes]

my niece had a passport renewed and when it arrived it put her at 3 years older than she was meaning at 16 she had a passport for a 19 year old obviously her dad contacted passport office and they reissued the correct one but never asked for the dodgy one to be returned... she was the envy of her mates for quite a while.

[BarbaraofSeville]

The teens I know don't want to go out drinking under age (or even after turning 18), they would rather go for a Starbucks of an afternoon instead."

This is at once cheering and somewhat depressing

Several people I know in their 40s and 50s with DCs that can drive exploit this to the max - the parents get the DCs to pick them up from the pub .

When I was 18 my 16 year old sister used to go out clubbing armed with my birth certificate. I was unaware of this until several years later.

We have a couple of regular parties each year for DPs family and it is all the 40-60+ year olds that are drinking heavily and those under 25 might have one or two small drinks over the whole evening.

However, one of DPs nieces is old school in this regard and has had to be taken to A&E more than once to have her stomach pumped due to far too much alcohol.

[TwentyCupsOfTea]

There's a lot of 'borrowing' an older persons is about (bar experience). However when clocked, it gets taken and the owner then had to collect from a police station... Nearly as much trouble for the lender as the borrower!

[judgelionelnutmeg]

When I was starting to go to pubs (many, many years ago) I photocopied my birth certificate at college and then tippexed out the last digit of my birth year and changed it to 2 years before that making me 18 instead of 16. Then photocopied the tippexed version which I took to pubs etc. Needless to say it looked completely shit and fake but sometimes it worked!

[elQuintoConyo]

I renamed myself Eloise Stoltz, added a couple of years and got my History teacher to make one

All for Diamond White

[Pixienott0005]

It depends where you go. For example the local social club by ours which is rough and ready always has a bunch of kids in there, like literally 16 year olds. Totally depends on the place!

[titchy]

Some have fake id scanned to their phone. Mostly though they buy soft drinks at venues which allow 16+, and neck a couple of bottles before hand.

Or more often than not just go to house parties.

[Laquila]

Ooh does it now automatically post the time and pp's name if you copy paste from another post?

[Laquila]

Today 13:25 OddBoots

"The teens I know don't want to go out drinking under age (or even after turning 18), they would rather go for a Starbucks of an afternoon instead."

This is at once cheering and somewhat depressing.

[FinallyFreeFromItAll]

Go to pubs that don't care about age - every area has some.

Clubs - don't get in. Although lots of areas have clubs, that don't serve alcohol, for underage teenagers and then the teens try to sneak their own alcohol in.

[Mistigri]

DD is a mature looking 14 and in the very recent past has needed ID for buying a reduced price train fare, and for getting into things on an under 15 rate on holiday (hadn't yet got her national ID card, she got away with using her EHIC card for this).

Usually she needs to to prove how young she is not how old. I'd be nervous about her walking around with a passport.

[OddBoots]

The teens I know don't want to go out drinking under age (or even after turning 18), they would rather go for a Starbucks of an afternoon instead. Night clubs are closing due to lack of business.

[LottieDoubtie]

We never had fake ID just chanced it and were successful say 60-65% of the time. If we failed we just went to the park someones house and drank their parents stash...

If challenged you often used to be able to talk your way out of it, that's gone now.

I think teens are often less successful now- and Fake IDs have to be more 'professional' to work so they cost more/bring teens in closer contact with properly dodgy people.

[BackforGood]

Just much more difficult now. So they don't bother trying. A lot of places ID you to even cross the door, not just when serving. If you aren't drinking, you still can't go in.

[TrixieBernadette]

I'm 33 and remember scanning my birth certificate to change the birth year and reprint it never had the guts to use it though and it looked terribly fake

I did however lie on my NUS card when I was 16 and told them I was born 1980 and not 82. That helped for a couple of years as the college NUS person never checked - you just turned up with proof you were on a course there and a passport photo.

[mygrandchildrenrock]

It must depend where you live and where your DC go. My 18 yr old DS has no ID, except his passport with a photo of him from years ago, and has never been asked for any! I presume he'll get a student card when he starts university in the Autumn. (If they still have student cards)

[wasonthelist]

I was afforded the happy freedom to go mostly unchallenged in my youth; certainly no-one demanded to see my paperwork. I feel sorry for young folks these days.

[wasonthelist]

I have taken my nieces (14 and 17) to a few over 14s gigs recently and not had any issues. Don't know if it's really a big issue for teenagers - it certainly isn't for them.

To be clear - this isn't strictly about "ID" is it? It's about having some tick box proof of age, generally facilitated by an identity document.

[Cabrinha]

Never mind the poor teenz, what about us middle aged women?

A couple of months ago I had to leave behind a bottle of Chateauneuf de Pape in M&S because aged 41 I don't carry ID, fake or real.

Their policy is once challenged, no ID means no sale. The supervisor explained that very politely as the two of us giggled and ribbed the poor checkout lad - young enough to be my son - and showed him my grey roots! I did make a point of telling his supervisor that he'd been very polite!

[Mistigri]

It must be a nuisance for British teenagers wanting to get into venues that are 14+ - which is quite a lot of music venues - or who need proof of age or ID for any other reason.

We have national ID cards here. Easier and cheaper to replace than a passport, if they go astray. DD14 has one that she keeps in her purse, and I wish I could get one too.

[ShesAGreatGas]

We used to apply for a NUS card using fake details and use that to get into clubs (back in the 90s). It was so easy .

[FreyaB84]

Here in Scotland, kids can get Young Scot cards as proof of age. I don't know if it's the same everywhere but round here they get them just before they start secondary school and they're valid until the age of 25.