AIBU to Never Let Staff Walk Away With My ID?

[TheRealGossipGirl]

Had some family and friends over for Christmas yesterday. In the evening we sat down with tea, biscuits, and ended up chatting for hours.

One friend told us a story that honestly made my skin crawl. She went into Currys to collect a click & collect order. The man at the till asked for her ID, then walked off with it, got the parcel, handed it to her - and when she asked for her driving licence back, he said “oh sorry,” went back, came out again, and said he couldn’t find it. He took her details and said he’d call her. That was a week ago, and she’s still heard nothing.

She’s worried, but she’s the type who won’t make a fuss, won’t complain, and will just sit there forever waiting for this random man to get back to her.

I’ve worked in a big UK department store where click & collect was a huge part of the business. Yes, we asked for ID - but there is never a reason to take it and walk away with it. Ever. As a customer, I’ll happily show my ID, but I absolutely refuse to let anyone walk off with it. And if they do, I follow them and tell them not to. It’s my ID - I don’t want it out of my sight.

Two of my friends thought I was being a bit OTT, but honestly? I don’t think I am at all. Your ID is sensitive, important, and not something a stranger should be casually misplacing.

AIBU for thinking this is completely unacceptable?

Did she just say ok then and leave?? Id have said you better find it mate or I'm reporting you to the police for stealing it.

You don't leave your ID and leave a shop and wait for a call when they find it. I can not comprehend anyone doing that. Sometimes they take it when looking for your collection and you don't realise what has happened. You shouldn't let them, of course. But to leave when they say they can not find it is a different level. If this is as your friend said then it needs to be escalated ASAP with the management. How can you not have your driving licence. You need to legally have it when driving.

Bloody hell.

I’d visit the store & insist on seeing the manager, but even if she does manage to get her licence back she needs to contact the head office about this.

She’s got no way of knowing whether her licence has been copied. There should be a flat rule about ID never being out of the customers’ sight.

@ClareBlue well that not necessarily true as you have to send it off for a new one or to get points added.

that being said… I would not have left without it and would have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. What an absolute twit this person is if it’s innocent or dastardly if they’ve done it on purpose. They need reporting and the police calling.

If stopped by police you have 7 days to present paperwork if requested. You don't need it with you to drive.

I hope she got the workers name, and I’d ring today and play merry hell about it

i don’t think 8 am ever asked to hand over id, merely show it.

Friend needs to contact the Curry’s manager; report her driving licence as stolen to the DVLA and request a new one.

If the Curry’s manager gets her nowhere, I would be logging it with the police non-emergency number. Someone is trying something.

Those situations are specifically exempt when you have to legally produce your license on a 7 day notice. Someone leaving it in Curreys isn't. Even if you have a valid license on the data base you have to physically produce it within 7 days if notified by a Police officer unless it is being updated or held for a legal reason like addition of points. Then you get an extension. You still have to do it though.

Nope I don’t even let them take it. You look with your eyes not your hands! My friend had issues with a shop taking her phone as she was picking up a parcel. The guy took her phone to scan theQR code and said he handed it back but didn’t. She had to argue for ages then got the friend with her to call the police and suddenly he miraculously found it. She printed the QR codes after that.

What an idiot. I would have stayed in the store until it was found, demanded to see the manager, gone out and searched myself!! People really need to grow some courage.

Yes. But your still need to produce it within 7 days. Assuming this is UK. OIn Ireland you have to have it on you when driving.

Not much hope of presenting it within 7 days if its lying somewhere in Currys though is it? When the police ask you to present it they are basing that on you having it at home in your possession.

As it stands it is now either lost or stolen and the owner will have to pay for a duplicate. That will have to be declared to any stopping police.

I've ordered from Curry's - they asked to see the card I paid for the item with and the order number (on email or text) but didn't ask for ID.

Irrespective of having to produce it, and it more likely the friend won't be stopped and that won't arise, nobody should leave a premises on the promise that someone will look for your ID that they have lost or misplaced and ring you if they ever find it. That's beyond trusting and moving into the realms of very foolish.
OP, can you help your friend on this?
The other friends who think you are being OTT aren't going to be much help are they.

Even if she gets it back today by going in and complaining it could have been copied or used anywhere. She is very trusting and very very wrong. I don't drive so I don't know if there's a way of cancelling it (as in the active one so a new one issued cancels the old one when checked?) or 100 percent what is on the licence but given how important it is, walking away from the store without it has to be a no go surely?

And letting someone take it from your hand and disappear is the same as then doing it with your bank card z they could do anything!

Thank you all for the replies - this is exactly why I firmly believe that while checking your ID when collecting an order is fine, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to take it off you. Your name can be written down if needed, but your ID doesn’t need to leave your sight.

I didn’t want to overload my original post with too much detail, but for more context: he took her ID and walked off with it, then came back saying there was an issue with the machine used to scan out the parcel and that he was just getting another one. My friend waited, but said he looked nervous. When he finally came back, he handed her the parcel, gave a very quick “thanks so much for waiting, here you go,” and walked off. She then had to stop him and say, “What about my ID?” He replied, “Oh yeah,” went into the stockroom, and then came back out saying he couldn’t find it.

I honestly don’t know why my friend agreed to being called later or why she even left the store - and trust me, when she told us this last night, our mouths were on the floor. She did get quite upset when we all said she should never have left, but I think she just didn’t know how to react in that moment. She was on her own and isn’t the most confident person.

I’ve called her this morning and told her to come over, and we’re going to Currys together. I’ll do the talking for her and hopefully we can get some proper answers - and her ID - today.

Several decades back, in some restaurants, they wanted you to pay at the table, but it was before the mobile thingamajigs. So they'd bring the receipt in a little folder and you were meant to put your card in there, and they'd take that away to process the payment and bring the card back tp you. I never thought anything of it until meeting my then FIL who always refused to let his card out of his sight. Smart man. I didn't like him, but I learned some things from him.

"She’s worried, but she’s the type who won’t make a fuss, won’t complain, and will just sit there forever waiting for this random man to get back to her."

I lose sympathy with her here. I mean FFS, grow a bit of a backbone love.
Presumably she is able to function as an adult in other situations - work, finances, life...?

I was in my brother's local branch of Curry's a couple of weeks ago and there was a man asking to speak to the store manager because his EE (I think - it might have been another provider) account had been fraudulently used for a phone upgrade and it had been done from that branch. No idea how he knew or what the outcome was.

Wow. Not that I'd have let someone walk off with my ID in the first place, but in that situation I'd have told him to get his manager to look at the CCTV, which would show him exactly where he'd 'misplaced' it.

WTAF. I absolutely would not have left until I had my ID back.

I hope you have it back by now but that is very strange behavior by your friend, has she no concept of basic personal security?

To be honest I have a friend like this and she lets her husband dictate and handle everything. She once said ‘oh (her husbands name) says I’m but allowed!’ Allowed! She’s a grown woman but so bloody pathetic sometimes and an utter doormat.

She needs to call police, report the ID as stolen/lost to relevant org (I'm assuming DVLA), and sign up to experian to get alerts if anyone tries to take out credit in her name asap!

I wouldn’t have left the store without my ID your friend needs to get back to the store and speak with management I hope she took the persons name who took the ID in the first place.
In my profession we deal with peoples ID everyday and will often have to go and photocopy/scan it but we have a very strict protocol for it I leave the room with the ID and return to the room with the ID it’s that simple I’m gone no more than 10 minutes.