To get really frustrated by the Think 25 rule

[Cloeycat]

Not so much having to be ID'd but the fact that if I am with my partner and don't have my wallet (I'm over 25 and also obviously pregnant) that he is not able to purchase alcohol for himself unless I hide or pretend not to be with him.

I don't always carry my ID with me, especially if we are just popping to our local supermarket for something for dinner and he is paying but it is so frustrating that I then have to wait outside the door in the cold like a naughty 16yr old so that he can buy himself a beer or bottle of wine.

Does this rule apply to parents buying alcohol if they are accompanied by children who are under 18? Or is it just when it is two adults trying to legally buy alcohol that a problem arises?

I got ID'd for prosecco a couple of weeks ago (I'm 36) I didn't have ID but I was with my mum so I said to the cashier my mum will vouch for me being 36! I had 2 dc's with me but he was fine and accepted my mums word that I had come out of her fanny 36 years ago

If it is an obvious parent-child combination, e.g. 40 and 16, they don't need ID.

Unless the youngster is carrying a bottle of wkd whilst mum juggles the prosecco. I've definitely ID'd for that. I've also ID'd where the mother had scanned wine and beer then asked her son what he wanted from behind the till. He asked for a bottle of apple sour. I asked for ID. Mother tells me he doesn't have ID but he is 18. I refuse the sale. She then says he's buying it for his father. . They left their basket of shopping. Boss backed me 100%.

I havent got time to read the whole thread so this might have already been said but Trading Standards send in teenagers to make test purchases to see if challenge 25 etc is being adhered to....please dont take it out on the staff they have no choice....and to the poster on the first page who said her dad kicked off at a young lad....your dad is a cock !!!

i honetgly dont get the problem-they are trained to say this and told they'll be disciplined or sacked of they dont

doesnt matter if u look 100 just take id with you-dont blame the staff

Erm if they are clearly older than about 12 but look under 25 I will ask them for ID when with their parents and display some judgment, unless they have touched the alcohol or were clearly picking it out. If you know you are going to get ID'd take it with you. It is more on you than them, you have to understand the risk they take if you look under 25, if you aren't 18 they could get a fine of up to £5,000 or a prison sentence!

I'm 41 and EVERY SINGKE TIME I go in morrisons I get asked for ID- I would like to find it flattering but in fact it's just ludicrous!!

I'm old enough to be a grandmother. If I wish to buy a bottle of wine with my weekly shop, I'm not taking my passport. I would rather change where I shop.

An adult can buy alcohol if accompanied by an underage person, but the seller has to make a judgement call if they think that the buyer is proxy buyer (I.e buying on behalf of an underage person). It's generally quite obvious from their behaviour if they are proxy buyers. It's not illegal to sell alcohol to somebody who can prove their age, even if their child carries the alcohol to the till, as long as you judge them to not be proxy buyers. The penalities for selling to underage people are huge, both for the shop and the actual shop worker who makes the transaction.

A woman was once asked for ID at my local Tesco when buying a slice of quiche.

I got asked for proof of age buying a DVD in a charity shop.

It was Thomas the chuffing tank engine.

She was an old dear, but still....

AFAIK the underage testers they send in are usually 14 and very obviously underage. I got tested several years back and passed because I had sufficient brain cells to know it was a child!

That aside, it is rather bonkers that I still get IDd, at 32, buying a full family shop whilst with my DD11 in her senior school uniform I got IDd at a bar on Friday too but I found that quite flattering

Oh I did once get IDd for non alcoholic beer in Asda.

And another time buying a Diet Coke in a pub whilst 8 months pregnant.

Common sense. Sigh.

My husband got ID'd buying Lottery. An age 16 restricted item.
He was 33.
I and the customers around were howling laughing at the silliness of it, especially when she wouldn't serve me behind him in case I handed this 33 year old married man some lotto. (You'd think a wedding ring would be pretty obvious at a glance that he's likely over 16!)
I did get quite annoyed though when I realised it was a 10 minute walk to the next shop and we'd not bothered to bring the car.

But what irked me most was the group of 5 teenage girls that had been served in front of us, friends with the cashier as they had chatted a while were OBVIOUSLY no older than 13 or 14. They bought a bottle of cheap cider and paid with pennies and other very small change.

I work in a shop i would id if i thought someone was under 25 and i would id a group of suspicious looking group of borderline ages but why in earth would i id a mother or father with young children how are people meant to buy alcohol if they have young children which the obviously have to have with them it makes no sense unless they have been rude and the assistant wants to piss them off lol

For the most part I sympathize with the shop assistants, but it can be a bit ridiculous at times.

I accompanied my mother when she was doing the Xmas food shopping one year. I was 28 but didn't have my ID on me. Along with all the food, there was a bottle of Bailey's.

We get to the cash register and my mother is asked for ID, as am I. They won't serve us because I don't have my ID. My mother insists that I'm 28, but they point out that they do not know that she's really my mother. By chance, I happen to have a very old student ID, from when I was in university, in my pocket, which showed that we both had the same, very unusual surname. They still won't serve us.

We ask if they'll serve her if I leave - no.
If she comes back on her own in an hour - no.
If she comes back on her own the next day - no.

We gave up and went elsewhere.

I work in supermarket, do you all think I enjoy asking grown ups for ID?, no its embarrassing, but this is law, we do get checked. I always have my ID with me, so get over yourself and bring your ID!!!

It's no fun for the cashier either. Before I worked the tills I too used to get annoyed, but I never will again. It's drummed into you in induction that you need to ID someone who looks under 25 and when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. If you're a crap judge of age like me then it's even harder. I simply look out for wrinkles. Lack of wrinkles - I ID. If someone looks under 25 but the person with them looks as though as they could be their parent, and no 'evidence' of a proxy sale I wouldn't ID. 2 people looking under 25 I would ID both, and if one didn't then no sale. The consequences for the cashier are huge so I don't care about what the customer thinks.

Actually, it may sound a little childish, but if someone gets arsey when they can't produce ID I actually feel a little happy they've gone without. I've had it before when I'm almost 99.999% sure someone is over 25 but still asked for ID, they've not had it, very apologetic to me, bought a lot of shopping, young children, etc (no indication they are underage and asking for ID may have been OTT of me) and I've let it go and allowed the sale. Get arsey though and there's no way you're getting it, not unless my manager intervenes, who always tend to back up their staff.

Alena2003 we don't need to get over ourselves! You're missing the point. IDing people is fine, refusing service because they have a 2 year old with them is not fine. Refusing service because they made polite conversation with the person behind them in the queue and That person doesn't have ID is ridiculous.

I work in a shop and it's really awkward for us too. The company and police regularly send people in, who are over 18 but aren't 25, to catch us out. We get sworn and shouting at, but I'm not going to chance being fined £1000 and a criminal record if I get caught.

I bought wine, paid for it, then DD who had been looking at CDs came over to the till and I wasn't allowed to carry it out! It was with some other shopping. I said I'd return for it, then I took DD home (2 minute walk) and went back for my bag of shopping. Then I took the bag of shopping back to my house, with 17 yr old DD in it... and drank the wine myself.

They've done the same with a DVD and my son (then 14)... it was a PG.

Talking 'bout you, Booths!

I don't believe for a second that the police are sending in people aged from 19-24 to catch out shops that sell to underage drinkers, or that any shop assistant has been given a criminal record for selling alcohol to anyone in that age bracket.

Feel free to provide me with evidence to the contrary.

Whether the police etc have ever done that or not is irrelevant we as shop workers are told they have and that we can get fine etc a person earlier on in thread related her story of getting a disciplinary at work for mo iding it is taken very very seriously within retail

I've never got arsey with anyone. I once politely asked to see a manager.

I had no ID, was in my 30s buying over £100 of groceries and then picked up four bottles of wine which were on the last day of a half price offer. I was very worried about the wine not being half price the next day!

Manager came over and said it was up to the assistant but he did say that if it was up to him he would serve me. Assistant then did agree to serve me. I do feel sorry for assistants put under so much pressure.

They don't saucy. There is an awful lot of hysteria on this thread, stoked mostly I suspect by supermarket managers on a power trip.

As well as the police/TS not sending people aged 18-25 to try and trip up shop assistants, they will also not be sending in people who are well over 25 but someone might mistake for a 24 YO in a dimly lit room when in the company of people that are in their early 20s that unfortunately have had extremely hard lives thus distorting what a reasonable person thinks a person in their early 20s looks like.

Nor are they sending in families with teen DCs that are pretending to do a family shop but are in fact spending £50 on decoy items to try and sneak a bottle of wine to a 16 YO.

No-one has been fined or gained a criminal record for making legal alcohol sales. They may have been unfairly disciplined or dismissed by an employer with a ridiculous and illogical approach to complying with the law but that is a different issue.

One would hope that someone thinks to check that an actual law has been broken before taking people to court.

I'm a bit late but I thought I'd add my story. When my DH and I were on holiday in California a few years ago, DH was ID'd when buying a bottle of wine. He is a chunky, balding 50 something (late 40s at time) and, the cashier couldn't understand why I was doubled up with laughter!