Judged by Waitrose

[Prioryfodder]

Waitrose would not let me buy alcohol because I was accompanied by my 15-year-old daughter. To explain, just before Christmas, I had bought a basket of groceries and two bottles of Malibu (actually destined for her older brothers Christmas stockings to make long island iced teas, but that's irrelevant IMO). She had briefly handled the bottles to put on the conveyor belt for me. We then waited some time for the cashier to clear. We were clearly together and frankly we are clearly mother and daughter. The cashier (rather smugly) said she would need ID from both of us to sell me the alcohol. I said I was 56 and she 15, but the alcohol was for me. She - and later her manager - asserted that we both had to be over 18, and to prove it. I asked if they would sell it to me if she left the shop. No. Would they sell it to me if she were 6-year-old? Yes, and I was ''not to be so silly'', said the cashier. My daughter feels she was judged as being an underaged drinker, and I feel judged to be a 'bad mother'. Vote: Yes, you are AIBU, you should never shop with your teenage child, you fool. YANBU, FFS at 56 you should be allowed to buy alcohol.
I am expecting a few cracks about buying Malibu and shopping at Waitrose. Please don't disappoint

Challenge 25 (or 21, or 30 or 100) has nothing to do with the law and everything to do with the conditions of the alcohol licence, it's a mandatory one to have a challenge policy and 25 is industry best policy.
No challenge policy, no licence and then no one gets any booze.
And even if the law states that you can have alcohol with a table meal at 16/17 as long as it's cider, wine or Perry and it's purchased by someone over 18 (doesn't have to be a parent) that doesn't mean that the premises have to serve you. For all you know there could be a condition on the licence stating that they mustn't serve anyone under 18, regardless of the law.

And in all honesty, serving 16/17 year olds with a meal is more trouble than it's worth because as demonstrated in just about every argument about alcohol, many people only know the key laws, they have no concept of licencing conditions and what they entail, so many places just don't do it - just because it's legal doesn't mean they must.

I was aged 21 in a shop and they wouldn't sell me a scratchcard because I didn't have any ID. I was also with my mother, they then refused sale to her saying she would give it to me, she was doing her own shopping! Ridiculous rules.

So to summarize. The law is x, but then the licence is more restrictive

I can answer my own above question (a few pages back about being a disabled shopper).. ds16 put the alcohol on the conveyor belt for me, and was also the one to tap my card, and wasn’t asked for ID (that was Morrisons yesterday). He can pass for 18 but definitely not 25. So seems like common sense can be used in that situation.