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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think asking for proof of age if you look under 25 is a bit much?

71 replies

skybright · 26/08/2009 09:05

I was asked for photo identification when buying cig's yesterday. It might have been a little funny if i had any apparently acceptable ID with me but i had ...NHS photo card,a credit card and a switch card ...all this was not enough!.

So at the age of 31 i was refused cigarettes..what do people under 25 do now? Carry ID all the time.

Surely an age gap of 7 years is a little extreme.

BTW i think she thought i looked about 24 which is six years over the age limit anyway .

OP posts:
MmeLindt · 26/08/2009 09:11

Weeeeeeeeeeeel, part of me would be rejoicing at the thought that someone reckoned I was under 18yo but I do understand your frustration.

Isn't it under 18yo for buying cigarrettes?

Original poster
skybright · 26/08/2009 09:14

Yeah it is under 18 for buying the cigs but some places have this new policy that you have to have photo ID if you look under 25.

I was mad cause there was not way in hell she thought i was under 18...she said she thought i was 24..which is six years past the age then!!!.

Plus i had to walk in the rain to go to another shop lol.

OP posts:
LadyMuck · 26/08/2009 09:16

I have to say that it is a total pain. I was refused alcohol in Waitrose when I was 37 or 38 (by someone who was older than me and should have known better!). I think that I had caught here a day or two after the course where they are told that they are personally liable if they serve someone under age and that the the police were setting up tests. Of course I didn't have my driving licence on me. In that prticular instance I was very annoyed because I was buying something along the lines of cassis to use in a pudding rather than anything one would every drink.

That said I do think that the law is better than no law or even the previous law (I had no problem in buying cigs as a child), and I assuem that if I had been a teenager when it was brought in I would automatically carry some id in the same way that I would automatically have a mobile.

delilahbelle · 26/08/2009 09:17

I got asked for ID the other day - for a bottle of wine in with the weekly shop. I'm nearly 30, so to be thought I look 24 actually had me thanking the checkout operator.

Given my response she decided to sell me the alcohol

ChopsTheDuck · 26/08/2009 09:18

I'd be thrilled if someone knocked 7 years off my age! I'm 31 and no-one has id-ed me for 12 years.

Tee2072 · 26/08/2009 09:20

I guess I don't see the big deal of carrying ID. I always have ID on me, my passport, since I don't drive in this country and have no UK driver's license. How hard is to have ID on you?

lljkk · 26/08/2009 09:21

No, not too young, you get asked for it if you look under 30 in the USA. Under 25 guidelines seem too slack to me, should be under 30.

Mind, I am HOPELESS at guessing people's ages. So I used to ask people for ID when to everyone else's eyes they obviously looked over 40.

Boy, I would have been incinerated for it on MN, lol. But if you leave it as a subjective judgement, what else is the poor person on the till supposed to do? Error on the side of the customer and not on the side of caution, considering their own job may be on the line?

MmeLindt · 26/08/2009 09:21

I have lived in Germany and Switzerland for the past 17 years where it is compulsory to carry ID cards so I always have ID on me.

If UK had ID cards then this problem would not exist

Hulababy · 26/08/2009 09:24

I am 36y and still get asked on occassions for ID when buying alcohol, and even knives. I always have my photocard driving license, but normally my response of laughing and saying thanks makes them realise they have it wrong!

Went downstairs to answer door last month and the man at the door asked to speak to my parents. 7y DD was standing on the stairs, just out of view, and hasn't let me live it down yet having already told DH and her grandparents!

Southwestwhippet · 26/08/2009 09:25

YANBU - I get ID'd all the time. I have even been refused lighters in Wilkos (couldn't prove I was over 16). At first it was flattering,yes, but now TBH it is bloody irritating, especially after I had my driving license stolen due to carrying it everywhere to use as ID.

I really do think the new regulations are ridiculous. I'm 29, yes I look young for my age but FFS I do NOT look under 16, or even under 18... I probably look about 23 on a good day (40 on a bad one ).

I went to three shops one day trying to buy a cheap bottle of red to put in a casserole... I ended up nearly in tears with frustration.

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 26/08/2009 09:29

I can see why they do it as the individual cashiers get an £80 fine if they're caught out. The police round here send 17yos who look a lot older into the shops, etc and try and catch the shopkeepers out.

But its such a pain in the bum. I'm 33 and can't buy wine with my weekly shop unless I have my driving licence. I did a £100 shop the other day and was still asked for ID for a bottle of wine. Would a 17yo really be doing a huge shop like that?

GoldenSnitch · 26/08/2009 09:31

I got asked for ID at the pub when buying drinks last year, we were there for my 30th birthday so I was quite flattered

Having never looked my age, I always carry ID in the form of my driving licence (I thought you were always supposed to carry that while driving anyway?)

The only time I did get a bit cross was when shopping in Waitrose (not my usual shop!) for my MIL a couple of months after DS was born. Stupid checkout assistant (had to have been in her 50's) asked me for ID cause I was buying Ginger Beer!!

I had to point out that Ginger Beer is in fact a soft drink and contains no alcohol!

According to her, it was hard to keep up with all these new alcopops!!

But Ginger Beer is as old as the hills!!

Original poster
skybright · 26/08/2009 09:35

lljkk ...I never realised it was under 30 in the US!

Surley shop staff should be allowed to use some intellect though...i had photo ID saying i was a staff nurse..how could i be that at under 18 plus TBH i don't really want to carry my passport around with me all the time in case i loose it.

My girls thought it was funny..my OH said i look my age lol so perhaps it won't happen again,must be very very annoying to people who get it all the time,especially if you are buying £100 shop StripeyKnickersSpottySock.

OP posts:
FairLadyRantALot · 26/08/2009 09:36

lol Lindt...now there is a can of worm the brits have a particular problem with (saying that, I think the kind of id they want to bring in is a bit, erm, over the top....if it was something like the german id's I don't think people would mind to much)

greensnail · 26/08/2009 09:39

Now I'm getting upset that no one's been asking me for ID, and I'm only 27 - surely I might still look under 25?

Even in Waitrose its been a few years since they asked me, and they always seem to be very strict about it.

OracleInaCoracle · 26/08/2009 09:42

i was a restaurant manager pre-ds and work in a supermarket now, have also done licensing as part of my degree v recently and I have tro say YABU, it is very easy for a 16/17yo to look 18, harder to look 25 unless you actually are. if you are underage and served then it is the server who is liable, they could get anything from a fine to a prison sentance. the law is there to protect the vulnerable and its very hard to know where to draw the line. unfortunately this "jobsworth" attitude is down to all the people who have taken advantage of the law in the past. be flattered and carry id with you"!

dingdong05 · 26/08/2009 09:44

i've not come across this before, but then i don't smoke and rarely drink (plus if they insisited on id around here the junkies would revolt
but i don't regularily carry id beyone my bank cards as i don't drive or leave the country on a regular basis. it would piss me off if i was sent of as a 37 yo for buying fags

StretchFucksTheMailDaily · 26/08/2009 09:47

Well, I don't drive, and I don't have a passport so what do I do? Shell out more money for an id card just for the crime of (legally) buying alcohol?? I don't think so!!

Taking things to a new ridiculous level.

I never attempt to buy alcohol in supermarkets anymore. I was shopping with my mum in Sains, I had finished my shopping, paid etc.. (fast track) my mum started to pay for hers, she was asked for id from me as she was buying alcohol and couldn't prove that she wasn't buying the alcohol for me!! I mean ffs! I am 27, had all 3 kids with me, and am 8 months pg! We were not even paying together, just after each other!

IdrisTheDragon · 26/08/2009 09:47

I haven't been asked for ID for years. Am only 33. I think I am not aging well...

TamTam29 · 26/08/2009 09:50

I would love to be asked for ID - even when I was young enough to be asked I never was! (must have always looked like an old bag My friend got asked once for ID in Tesco to buy a cheese grater!!at the grand old age of 28.

Read a good thing in DH The Sun last week in Tery Christians column - he talked about how he believed our tighter licensing laws have actually aided underage drinking & binge drinking, as in his youthful days, everyone would go to the pub underage but as they kept their heads down & didnt misbehave or get paralytic they were able to drink and so learn how to drink reasbonsibly. These days it is alot harder to buy alcohol so you find more teens getting drunk in the local park/each others houses, with no one around to draw the line & tell them they have gone too far as all their drinking is done in secret.

Just some food for thought!

StewieGriffinsMom · 26/08/2009 09:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Trikken · 26/08/2009 09:53

My favourite topic. YAVU. People will check others even if they think they might be over cos they are unsure, they are just protecting themselves from losing their job. It definately is 18 for cigs now, and again where i work you have to check anyone who you think is under 25, thats quite hard to determine you know. As lissielou said, just be flattered.

TrillianAstra · 26/08/2009 09:54

"must be very very annoying to people who get it all the time"

I have a friend who is like this. She gets asked all the time, then moans all the time. So why doesn't she carry some bloody photo ID?

Bleh · 26/08/2009 09:57

Well, I think it does kind of work out, the think 25 thing. If you ask anyone who is under 25 may be offended and start going on about how they are totally over 25, blah blah blah, whereas any over 25 are normally very grateful and flattered. The times I've been asked, I've nearly kissed the asker.

Saltire · 26/08/2009 09:57

Well I was under the impression that A) You had to be over 18 to buy alcohol, so anyone over that age isn't breaking the law,and
B) It's not a legal requirement to carry ID in this country, so why should we have to?

It is ID cards by stealth as far as I am concerned, the Governemtn know we as a antion aren't keen on ID cards, so they "advise" shops and pubs to ID everyone who trys to buy alcohol regardless of their age, and then banks won't let you withdraw money from accounts which don't have a ATM card, just a pass book, if you don't have ID.