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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think my son aged 15 shouldnt be ID'd to buy....

91 replies

Marble179 · 02/10/2018 08:58

Alcohol Free Kopperberg?!!!

Whenever we had BBQs this summer or went to a party, my son now gets alcohol-free Kopperberg. He has been allowed some of the fall stuff in a small amount but is happy with the alcohol free and not in a rush to drink alcohol. I often had the same as him as it feels like a treat but without alcohol.

He has to have an adult buy it for him in the shop. The shop assistants insist on this even though we have pointed out that it is alcohol free.

Is anyone aware on the law on this and if that is correct? It's just a fizzy fruit drink in a glass bottle!

OP posts:

PattiStanger · 02/10/2018 10:28

It wouldn't bother me at all, far more important thinsg to worry about ime

QuimReaper · 02/10/2018 10:31

What on earth is the need for a 5 year old to have a sip of beer?! I’m a very relaxed parent but this is really worrying to me.

The law doesn't work that way (thank God!). Things are legal by default unless the law takes the trouble to state otherwise; it starts from the position of a basic human right to do whatever you want without interference and punishment from governing bodies, with a (fairly long, complicated) list of exceptions which are what we call "The Law". Just because something isn't on that list of exceptions, it doesn't mean you should do it, it just means you live in a country where poor judgment isn't seen as grounds for legal sanctions.

QuimReaper · 02/10/2018 10:32

...or just what ladybee said - much more pithily put

scaredofthecity · 02/10/2018 10:36

I was refused it at 30 years old and very obviously pregnant ... now that is ridiculous!

SD1978 · 02/10/2018 10:36

It's not alcohol free: so has the same rules as other alcohol. As my sister found out in whetherapoons buying it for her daughter.

scaredofthecity · 02/10/2018 10:40

Its 0.05% i think, there's more alcohol in fruit juice! Plus kids can buy shandy at 0.5% no problems.

LuvSmallDogs · 02/10/2018 10:45

scaredofthecity, most shops have a “think 25” policy now, so if they think you could be under 25 they ask for ID for fags/booze. Not sure what the baby bump has to do with it, it’s not photo ID.

scaredofthecity · 02/10/2018 11:00

I do understand the think 25, but I was looking haggard and very much my age plus I wasnt even buying alcohol.
It was nye and i was buying pyjamas, cake and alcohol free koppenberg for my sad pregnant night in!

Surely common sense has to be applied sometimes? Its hardly like I was in danger of getting drunk underage with my massive pregnant belly and alcohol free cider.

MadameButterface · 02/10/2018 11:11

"The issue is that the consequences of selling something to someone who is underage is passed on to the person serving.

So if someone under 18 is sold a knife and that knife is used in the commission of a crime, the person who sold it could face charges. In addition to up to £5000 fines and job loss.

Anything age restricted such as alcohol, knives, solvents, even Red bull will carry an automatic check if the person looks under 21/25

Alcohol free cider and beer still contain alcohol although at minimal amounts. They won't be classified as soft drinks, and will be classified under alcoholic drinks in the till. It'll come up with a challenge 25 screen.

It's so vast with regards to challenge 25 because the consequences have been passed down to the retailer and then onto till staff.

In my area the council does checks. If they're failed, the person will lose their job and get fined. As what happened a couple of years ago in a store in London."

exactly this

being id'd is a minor inconvenience for most people, totally incomparable to what could happen to the till staff if they 'use common sense' and get it wrong. When they send people round as a test, they specifically use people who look borderline or whom 'common sense' might suggest waiving the rules for. they're not doing it for shits and giggles. I don't know if people have noticed, but it's not a good time to be out of work atm.

LydiaLunch9 · 02/10/2018 11:15

If it's the law then I the shop assistant is not wrong to do it.

The question would be why is it the law??

Either make it legal for anyone to buy and sell alcohol-free drinks to anyone, or change the law so producers can't call drinks with very low alcohol content "alcohol-free".

slashlover · 02/10/2018 11:19

It is legal to buy alcohol free drinks, it is probably shop policy to include them as an age restricted product.

seventhgonickname · 02/10/2018 11:32

There have been a few threads like this recently and I always wonder what IDpeople have that you carry around all the time?

MardyMavis · 02/10/2018 11:34

Just let him have a real one!

Nacreous · 02/10/2018 11:37

seventh My driving licence just lives in my purse with all my other cards. I can see if you don’t drive there wouldn’t be an obvious option though.

AnotherPidgey · 02/10/2018 11:39

I mortified the assistant when she had to confiscate my cans of G&T earlier this year because I had no ID on me... I was days away from my 37th birthday. I was old enough to buy it before the millenium! She was very appologetic, but they are the rules she has to follow.

I recently had a hairy moment when buying a mid-run Red Bull to get me up the big hill home for the last 3 miles of a long run. She looked at my beetroot sweaty face and said "16... 18..." "I replied "37!" and she put it through. She had cautiously not actually asked for ID. I was relieved as it hadn't occured to me to take ID for a run and it's a horrid hill

I was IDed for flowery scissors at 32... heavily pregnant and with my toddler. Hobbling with SPD does not put a youthful spring in one's step!

The problem with the alcohol free version of an alcoholic drink is that it's carrying the image of the full strength product and may be drunk in an atmosphere of alcohol consumption. It's obviously better than the real thing, but I can understand why it falls with age related products.

slashlover · 02/10/2018 11:41

You can but a PASS ID which is specifically designed for buying age restricted products.

www.pass-scheme.org.uk/

You don't need to carry it al the time, just if you're going to buy an age restricted product.

AnotherPidgey · 02/10/2018 11:41

I got a provisional licence a few years before I intended driving just to save me taking my passport everywhere.

I normally have my licence on me, but was caught out by a DBS check earlier in the week and not taking my full purse running and just an emergency fiver.

soupforbrains · 02/10/2018 12:25

I once got ID'd buying eggs and baking ingredients at about this time of year. I was baffled, until the checkout girl explained that around halloween ASDA (and I believe some other supermarkets) won't sell eggs or flour to under 16s to help reduce anti-social behaviour.

This then led to me being baffled in a different way, I was then 26 and had my 6 year old with me, so not only did they think I looked young enough to not be 16 but presumably thought I'd had a baby aged 10...

whatsthecomingoverthehill · 02/10/2018 13:40

There is no legal requirement for them to age check for low alcohol (

Original poster

Marble179 · 02/10/2018 13:50

If it does contain a small amount of alcohol as previous posters have suggested then perhaps we need to ID children by apples too as they could make a cider I think DS would be hospitalised for consuming too much liquid before he would ever be affected by the alcohol at 0.01%

As a sidenote whilst we are sharing ID stories. When I was 15 my friend.wanted condoms but was to embarassed to buy them in Superdrug so I did. The lady asked me if I was 16 and I said "no I'm not but she is and they are for her. I can't remember if we were sold then or refused but remember even then thinking how bad that was that someone would ID you for buying condoms when it's the right thing to do and the alternatives are far worse!!

OP posts:

TheDarkPassenger · 02/10/2018 14:18

@marybobary

The act itself is legal but if you have a 5 year old at home drinking then you will be prosecuted for abuse/neglect, it’s a safeguarding issue. So it’s not as if you can do it.

Sparklingbrook · 02/10/2018 14:25

AFAIK there's a till prompt so it won't be at the discretion of the cashier anyway so they aren't being a jobsworth or anything. They have to follow procedure, there's no way to bypass it.

Satsumaeater · 02/10/2018 14:26

it's not power going to peoples' heads - it's a requirement to ask people for ID on age restricted items if you believe they look to be under 25 years of age

No it isn't. It's a requirement not to sell age restricted items to people under the age at which the items can be bought. The shops have introduced the think 25 requirement but I thought it was for alcohol and cigaretts, not eg painkillers. And it's not law. The way the rules are being interpreted is crazy eg the person who posted on here that her 23 year old couldn't buy paracetomol but neither could her father!

And then you have a local supermarket by me who've decided it's a great idea to have people under 18 serving on the cigarette counter, so you can't buy anything without them having to call someone over. I don't smoke, but I would take a bottle of wine over, assuming I wouldn't' have to hang around for an "adult" to come - WRONG!

I'm really quite surprised the supermarkets haven't worked with trading standards to come up with more consumer-friendly practices.

I worked aldi and I got it on my record for serving someone under 25.
A well dressed 23 year old came to me for a few bottles of cider and I served him thinking he was over 25

Aldi need to learn the rules. The idea is that if you think someone looks under 25 you ask for ID. You didn't think that person did, so you didn't ask. And they were well over 18!

If you are reading this thread and work in the head office of a supermarket, please ask for this to be sorted out. It's really silly.

Satsumaeater · 02/10/2018 14:27

Arguing that it could encourage drinking is nonsense - since when is a supermarket a moral arbiter

But they do don't they? How many pregnant women have been questioned in supermarkets for buying alcohol?

IdiotSandwich · 02/10/2018 14:38

Must be terrible being ID'd musn't it. Don't feel bad for the cashier who has to legally ID you and gets a personal fine and criminal record if they get caught serving your son.

I used to work in a shop where I had to ID anyone who looked 25 or under or the consequence would be a huge fine for the shop, huge fine for me and a criminal record if I didn't. The council and police would send kids in who purposely looked older than 25 and whilst I never got caught a colleague did and it ruined her life. She couldn't afford the fine and she had to be fired.
I on the other hand had hundreds and hundreds of idiots swearing at me and because I wouldn't serve their precious 15 year old son something.
I quit that job mainly due to all the abuse from entitled arses who felt the need to get seriously aggressive over not being served because they didn't have ID or they were trying to buy for someone underage.

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