To want to know why Tesco won't sell me alcohol when I'm with my teenage daughter

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Given that it is perfectly legal for me to give her a glass of wine to drink at home (and has been since she was 5)? Was told in Tesco today that I couldn't buy wine as DD1 was with me. DD1 is 19 but had no ID on her, as we had just nipped out for a few bits. Cashier finally called a manager, who gave me the Spanish Inquisition, and finally said "OK, I trust that you aren't going to give any to your daughter."

It's not like I was buying WKD - I had a bottle of Champagne and one of an expensive Bordeaux!

@ihearttc my 14yo dd has this regularly. (She's 6' tall and looks about 19!). She's taken a photo of her birth certificate ahd keeps it in her phone now. It's worked with s bus driver so far

It's annoying, we know. Our store just failed what we call "think 25". They send in someone of age, without ID and check we are doing all of the checks. Cashier gets fined 5k. Store manager gets fined 25k. Store goes on probation. The cashier was probably covering their own back, if for any reason you were a think 25. It's not staff policy, it's the law and just as annoying for staff at how strict it is.

I was refused an alcohol sale because I had my ten year old ds with me. WT absolute F?

I had this at the weekend!
Did scan and shop and with DS 13. I don’t drink but know it’s challenge 25. Called cashier to authorise purchase and she asked for ID. At first I thought it seemed odd as I’m 37 and quite clearly ds is a teen so I’m over 25!
Then she asked ds (who has asd). He just said “I have my passport at home”.
She said without is she couldn’t sell alcohol to me with him.
Ds then said “why? I’m 13 so I’m not old enough to drink anyway. And I’m never drinking alcohol as it damages brain cells .... ”.

I then got told it was because I could be buying it for him.

Ds then pipes up it’s for visitors at Christmas as mummy doesn’t drink either.

I just said ‘fine, I’ll give my money to a supermarket that wants it’

I have to admit I also refused to buy the £15 worth of groceries I had in my basket too

It IS difficult to have ID if you are a teenager. I certainly don't want my two carrying their passports around with them, and DD2 doesn't look anything like her passport photo, which was taken when she was 12. They have "proof of age cards", which we paid for, but these are not accepted everywhere.

And do the Trading Standards people send in a Mum, who is clearly over 25, with a late teen, to buy two bottles of wine, to test out the cashier? Or is it always just one person?

It's not staff policy, it's the law and just as annoying for staff at how strict it is.

No Think 25 is a policy, it is not the law. It is only illegal to sell alcohol to someone who is under 18. This is what people are unable to understand.

BarbaraOfSeville: “Unless anyone can provide a link to a case where a shop has lost it's licence for selling to over 18s?”

That’s not what I said. I said the store can lose it’s license for failing Think 25 more than three times. This is of course if Think 25 is a condition of the store’s license to sell alcohol. Which it is for Tesco.

A license to sell alcohol can be revoked for a number of reasons, many of which are nothing to do with selling alcohol to minors.

Are you in Scotland Funnbuktu? English law says that a licencee must have a policy but they're can choose which one they use. Therefore it is policy not the law and a cashier cannot be fined unless the person they serve is under 18 because an offence has not been committed.

Our store just failed what we call "think 25". They send in someone of age, without ID and check we are doing all of the checks. Cashier gets fined 5k. Store manager gets fined 25k. Store goes on probation

That's not the law though, if your company are doing that when someone is over 18 then it is a company policy not the law.

I had this recently with my 18 year old they wouldn't let me have two bottles of beer until he showed ID which he did. He had a provisional licence on him even though hes not learning yet.

I don't think it's nannying. They are protecting themselves from being ridiculously fined. I can't make a fuss over someone protecting themselves

I think Sash that if you state that think 25 is being followed and it isn't then it probably is true that you could have your licence revoked. But a cashier cannot possibly be fined, that is nonsense as they haven't committed an offence. Even if it was illegal to serve someone who appears to be under 25 then this is extremely subjective. The definite in law is that it is illegal to sell to anyone under 18 however old they look.

I think the problem is that if there IS a clearly over 18 person at the purchasing point, the responsibility of Tesco should end there and the responsibility of the identified adult begins.

I got id’d at Tesco buying £70 worth of drinks for a party we were going to. I’m 28 and I’d left it in the car. Marched back of to the car to get it wondering what teenager has £70 to spend on alcohol x

My DD (25) has just reminded me that she nipped down to Co-op for her Nan to get candles and ham. They asked her for ID (she was 23 at the time) so she provided the ID albeit somewhat baffled.

They were still sniffy about selling to her.

increasingly
With regard to your question about trading standards sending in a family ‘test purchase’ scenario - of course that could/ does happen!

Maybe some of you will behave better when shopping now/buying alcohol?
We aren’t all the dimwits some people would like to believe. We have a fair bit of responsibility and pressure.
The till will prompt us - and we have NO choice but to carry out our job as we’ve been trained to.

Something that has always puzzled me - how can someone be prosecuted on the basis that an adult might be buying for a minor? Surely proof is needed, such as CCTV of money changing hands or bottles being handed over outside the store. Otherwise, how do you "prove" that the alcohol is being bought with the intention of supplying a minor? If a large fine is going to be dished out, surely the onus is on the prosecuting authority to prove that the adult was buying the wine (or whatever) for the teenager accompanying them?

The 'think 21/25/30/106' are a bit of a red herring. They are a policy, however you must have one- and have supporting documentation to show it's being used - to obtain a license and adhere to the license. Not adhering to the conditions attached to the licence can lead to sanctions on said license or loss of it. That's where the problems arise ime, because it's not a legal requirement to buy alcohol it's a condition of the license on behalf of the retailer.
As for test purchases, you only usually know you've had one if you fail. I almost failed one once, and got a talking to by the licencing officer.
I served a guy 3 half lagers which he took out of my eyeline to a table. I had been changing a barrel when the group came in so didn't see them. I went to clear a table and noticed that the guy was sitting with a lady and a teen, could have been 18 but certainly wasn't 25 and I would have asked for ID if they'd come to the bar themselves. I approached and asked if the teen had ID, as they had the lager in front of them, they didn't. I took the lager, replaced with a soft drink. The guy argued that he was teens father and they were 18 etc (nicely) and I still refused (just as nicely). I passed but was told if I hadn't intervened when I saw the teen with the drink or given in when he challenged me, I'd have failed, and was given extra training.
It's largely down to perception. Someone I think looks 25 ter behind them might not! And they can be anyone.

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@Scentofwater Really? I've had my provisional for 7 years and have found getting insurance easy.

But if they a caught selling alcohol to someone underage the shop get fined, the individual can get fined and they could loose their job. May be jobsworth but from working at a supermarket can be difficult judging people’s ages especially as it is now think 25. They staff are protecting themselves.

They wouldn't sell my mum alcohol when she was with me as I didn't have ID (I'm 26!) 😂

Because the laws for selling alcohol and consuming alcohol in the home are different.