To think that the rules are RIDICULOUS and infantilising?

[OhBling]

Was just in a Co Op buying a few bits. DS negotiated with me that I'd buy him a Monster, and he'd drink half (they are such huge tins it drives me mad)....

... the man in co op would not sell it to me because I was going to give it to a child.

FFS. I'm an adult. He is my child. I can decide what he can and can't have. And caffeine is NOT illegal for children.

I'm also fully aware that lots of people will say I AM BU because no child should ever drink anything except fresh water, preferably from your local stream.... But I'm extremely annoyed. These rules are ridiculous.

Just get some coke from your local dealer - they won't give a fuck how young your kid is and it's a similar buzz

Tbf, what's more unreasonable (but along similar lines) is that women of a certain age get refused if they try to buy canasten at Boots! Honestly, my mum sends me in to get it for her.

You'd be surprised....they had to remove alcohol hand gel (pre-covid), from hospitals as people were drinking it 😬. There is alcohol in Nail varnish remover. Back in the day, there was glue

Prime is not an energy drink

There are two different Prime product lines, one is an energy drink (and says so on the packaging) containing a very high level of caffeine. The other (branded for ‘Hybdration’) is caffeine free.

It’s the law for alcohol, tobacco, etc…but not for energy drinks.

Energy drinks should be 18+ with the same rules as for alcohol. The really bad ones like Prime etc, should be 21+

So it's worse than codeine or overproof gin? Or a firearm? Or prescription amphetamines? Or getting married/having a baby? More dangerous than joining the Army and getting shot at? Or racing motorbikes on a track/flying/parachuting/bungee jumping?

Best regulate espresso whilst you're at it if it's so dangerous that only somebody over 21 is capable of having it - limit the number that adults can buy in the day, make coffee only available in single dose sachets...

Just when exactly did the Mormons take over?

Tbh, if you’re making energy drinks age-restricted, you’d probably have to do similar with a lot of caffeine based drinks.

I’m not actually against that, but I do think many people draw a largely arbitrary line in the sand between energy drinks and things like coffee or Pepsi.

I drink energy drinks fairly regularly (though not daily, and rarely more than one per day). I have elderly relatives that were aghast to discover this…but they’ll happily have 7 or 8 cups of tea per day, so more than double the amount of caffeine I consume (albeit, spread out over a longer period).

All major supermarkets enacted a ban on selling energy drinks to kids under 16, so no it's not against the law but its against their policy so no they would to sell to you to hand to a kid. This ban was put in place March 2018

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/23515221.prime-drink-warning-parents-child-hospitalised/

In the US prime is 200mg but in UK it is 140, 25mg less than monster and still out a kid in the hopsital

Company policy for all major supermarkets since 2018

No, you’re being ridiculous. Why you’d want to give your child that s* is behind me. At any age.

You don't see tea and coffee being aggressively marketed towards kids with the brightly coloured cans etc. It should be cracked down on. Make them sell it in plain white cans with the name of the drink in times new roman in a standardised size, with warnings on the can too.

To be honest I'd do the same with alcohol too. Take all the glamour out of it.

Yeah I think supermarkets well overstep. If the person buying it is over 18, then that's where their jurisdiction stops. Even for alcohol. If you want to give your 16 year old a blue wicked or whatever, that's up to you. It's not illegal and it's none of their business.

Several large retailers have voluntarily banned the sale of energy drinks to under 16s whilst the government passes a law making it illegal to do so. The same rules arround proxy sales for alcohol are generally used.
The cashier could have lost their job if they had completed the sale. If you don't like the policy by all means complain to coop but don't take out your frustration on innocent staff following store policy. No one is going to risk their job for you.

Unfortunately the law doesn't agree with you and can hold me responsible for a proxy sale if a police/licencing officer decides I should have known that you were supplying the alcohol to someone underage.
And yes I know it's legal to give your child alcohol over age 5, but it's illegal for them to buy it, for anyone to buy it for them, or to sell it knowing it's for them.

I couldn't care less what you want to give your child, mainline them finest scotch if you want, but where the law holds me responsible and I can get punished for your choices, then it's very much my business.

I don't like it any more than most customers do, but none of that is going to be an adequate defence against losing my job, a fine, being told I'm not a responsible enough person to serve alcohol (thus preventing me getting another job) or in extreme, prison time.

https://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-content/monster

I think that's a bit too much caffeine even for myself, let alone a child (but I do drink my coffee weak)

Yabu

Yabu you made it obvious your ds was going to be drinking the drink and cashier doing a good job.
if your dc went into co-op alone and bought alcohol or cigarettes I expect you would be very angry with the cashier for not stopping him.you can't have it both ways.

Why did you tell.n the cashier it wss for your son?

Madness was being age checked at a self service till when buying a succulent! It was 3 inches tall and had no pricks....
Unlike the arsey worker who didn't/couldn't reasonably explain to me why I was being checked.
I only queried why, and was eventually told it could be used as a 'weapon ' 🤣
But I agree, these energy drinks are heart attacks/caffeine poisoning in a can. Parents buying them for children have no defence imo.

I don't like it any more than most customers do, but none of that is going to be an adequate defence against losing my job, a fine, being told I'm not a responsible enough person to serve alcohol (thus preventing me getting another job) or in extreme, prison time

Nobody has ever been put in jail for selling a parent an age-restricted item when they had kids with them. I doubt they've even been fined - they will only have been fined for directly selling to kids. Trading standards simply don't have the resources (it's not a police matter). I won't comment on the possible job loss as that is an internal matter for the supermarkets/retailers.

There have been loads of threads on here about this and the rules are stupid, badly understood and poorly implemented.

YABU why would you put that cr@p in your body let alone your child's body

I think they should ban that chemical garbage anyway.