Legal Advice Needed pls. 17yo friend in trouble regarding ID

[AuntyMary]

I've just had a call from a tearful friend asking advice and so I thought I would check out what advice you can give me to give her. Her DD went to her school prom last night and afterwards everyone went to a nightclub. Her DD turns 18 very soon so is still 17. She borrowed a friend's ID but got caught out at the door. The club have taken the ID and are passing it to the police. The girl and her friend have been very silly and we all know that. But my friend needs advice as to what she should do. Should she go to police station with DD in tow and apologise? Will police prosecute? Anyone had experience of this?

Its not a big deal at all, happened to so many people I know when we were younger. No of course they won't prosecute, I doubt they'll even give the ID to the police. I'd just get the original girl to ring the club and ask to pick up her ID they'll probably just let her

Do you know what ID she borrowed? How serious it would be taken does depend on the ID for example I do know that any Passports that my local club confiscates are passed over to the police.

This happened to a friend of DD's, she had her sisters ID. Her sister went to the police station to pick it up, no problem and no questions. I think the police probably thought that the nightclub had unfairly confiscated the ID from the 19 year old sister!

sister's

Just remember the nightclubs and the police have much bigger things to deal with than the usual underage kids trying to get in. I worked in bars for years and we'd have just kept the ID behind the bar a couple weeks and then binned it if not one claimed it, tell your friend not to worry and that the police will recognise it for what it was, a teenager having fun after a levels and if it is passed over they'll at most maybe give her a talking to about using other peoples ID

It was the other girl's driving licence and she needs it pretty quickly for some travelling she is doing. Oh dear oh dear. Thank you for all your advice. I'm going to call my friend now. I know she has called the nightclub and asked for the manager to call her back. But the guy she originally spoke to said 'no, we will give it to the police'. Do you know how quickly you can get ID back from this kind of incident? Thanks ladies - I knew Mumsnet would be the place to come to!

Round here, they wouldn't give her ID back. Nightclubs aren't allowed to give back ID that was being used fraudulently. They are supposed to hand it over to the police, but most get destroyed. It's quite strictly enforced in my area.

That's usually as far as it goes, punishment wise. The person who lent out their ID is inconvenienced by needing to get a new one, the person who didn't get in is embarrassed.

She may not get her Id back. Where I am all the confiscated ids are passes to the licensing dept of the police and are separate from the found ones. The licensing dept will send the ids back to the DVLA or passport office. If the owner is quick enough they may get the driving licence back but not the passport. They also get a bit of a telling off. No prosecution though.

doubt anyone is going to prison or getting a criminal record. They aren't a danger to society.

sounds like the delay/vanishing of the ID will be punishment enough.

lesson? the grown-ups didn't come down in the last shower and have seen it ALL before. Keep to the rules.

This happened to my dd's friend. The ID was destroyed and she went on the Pubwatch list for 3 months from her 18th birthday so she couldn't go to any local pubs for that time. (She was allowed to go out for meals with her parents though but not served booze!)

This happened to my daughter. Someone borrowed her ID and it got confiscated. She just applied for a new driving licence and said the other one was lost. No questions asked. That was about 3 years ago. She/we were worried at the time but not really an issue.
My son was 17 at his school prom and just went to the night club after and showed his ID which was his full driving licence which showed him as 17. I think they were so busy looking at the photo they didn't check the date of birth. I couldn't believe his brass neck. Funnily enough it was his old schools prom last night too.