Buying paracetamol

[Heratnumber7]

DD (21, looks younger) and DH went to Sainsbury's last night to buy some paracetamol for DD, who had a headache.

Sainsbury's refused to serve DD, on the grounds that she looks under 25 and had no proof of age with her. They also refused to serve DH because he admitted he was buying it for DD, as she was the one in pain.

What do you do if your 24, look younger, need pain relief, and the supermarket refuses to sell it to you?

The box states the dose for kids of 12+, and it's not illegal for children to buy pain killer.

The AIBU here is Sainsbury's making up their own rules about who they will sell what to

I would go to a different supermarket/shop.

Take photo ID with you.

Well since I got ID'd for a bottle of calpol at Sainsbury's I'm not surprised

I didn't have any ID but I had my Ds with me in his pushchair. I had to argue that I needed the medicine for my Ds and if I wanted to buy something underage it wouldn't be bloody calpol!!

She hmmmed and ha'hd and eventually gave in.

They are applying the same rules to it as alcohol. This I can understand and I feel is fair enough.
There isn't a specific law about the sale of over the counter medicine which I find strange.

Maybe direct them to their own website:

Restrictions on Painkillers

Our policy states that sales are restricted to a maximum of 2 packets of a combination of any paracetamol, aspirin or ibuprofen based products in a single transaction. Sales are also restricted to customers aged 16 and over. We have taken this decision as a responsible retailer and in line with the advised guidance from the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). This policy balances the needs of our customers for immediate pain relief and prevents stockpiling of medicines which may lead to accidental or impulsive overdose. Further medication above 2 packs has to sold under the supervision of a pharmacist. Customers can visit LloydsPharmacy in selectedSainsbury'sstores.

@SabineUndine

Take photo ID with you.

Not everyone has photo ID.

There are no age restrictions on paracetamol so this is utter bollocks.

I was ID'd buying two packs recently - I'm 36, look my age and was ill so looked positively haggard. (I haven't been ID'd buying alcohol for about 10 years, so definitely not a young-looking person.)

I didn't have ID with me (had popped out with just my debit card) so was refused service. I can understand why, but it was incredibly annoying.

It's all getting a bit silly in supermarkets. I was in my local supermarket last Saturday buying a few things including a bottle of wine. I decided not to use the self-service because of the bottle of wine and not wanting to hang around while someone came to approve the sale, so I went to the cigarette counter which doubles as the 5 items or less.

Imagine my surprise when BOTH the people on that counter were under 18 and were unable to sell age-restricted items without a supervisor! They said they could sell lottery tickets.

But why on earth would you put sales staff on a counter who are too young to sell the products the counter is set up to deal with?

There were women on the main tills who were clearly over 18, but the queues were too long with trolleys.

The whole policy around supermarkets selling age-restricted items needs to change, both from the perspective of IDing and from who's allowed to sell. The supervisor in the supermarket concerned didn't get my issue at all.

And the notion that I as a parent are not allowed to buy medicine for my "under age" child is ridiculous. Who on earth trains these staff? It is a clear indication of a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, like GDPR. Does that mean I can never buy 0-6 year old calpol as it is obviously for a child under 16? For goodness sake. Seriously OP, write in to Sainsburys, they need to retrain their staff.

She hmmmed and ha'hd and eventually gave in.

She broke the law when she gave in. Once challenged they aren't allowed to change their mind until photo ID has been provided!

If you get mystery shopped or Trading Standards doing test purchases and you don't adhere to the Challenge 25 policy, you end up in all kinds of trouble at work. They do this in Asda and Tesco too.

Challenge 25 isn't for painkillers though. The Sainsbury website says age 16 for buying them

I at 25 was ask for ID from the co-op for antihistamines last year. There are not even an age restricted product
Some companies go ott

@baxterboi

Yeah it did occur to me afterwards she probably shouldn't have given in, but I've got the feeling she was embarrassed about asking for ID over calpol in the first place. I suspect she got a bit overzealous

I got asked for ID in Tesco recently for a can of Red Bull. It's a pain in the arse but they're not obligated to sell anything.

I can understand the caution over alcohol sales, as the store might lose its licence by selling to underage persons, but there is no law about selling painkillers.

DH has sent a stern email to Sainsbury's. I'll report back if when we get a reply.

It effectively means that if you're out and about, and get a sudden toothache/headache/other pain, if you don't have ID with you and you look young, you can't buy yourself pain relief in Sainsburys.

I'm going to ask DD to test out some other shops to see if the same restriction applies.

What if you look under 25, it have your own DCs?? You can't buy them paracetamol either