Somerfield managers attitude

SAHARA

Mattjimf wrote:

Most of the shops up here in Aberdeen refuse to serve people if they look under 21, some jumped up hitlers won't even serve people over 18 with a driving licence or passport, this is supposed to stop underagers getting their mates who are 18 to buy alcohol for them.

Its no longer a defence to say that the person looked 18. If they look under 21, you have to ID them to make sure they are over 18."Jumped up little hitlers" doesn't even enter into it. I earn £105 a week, so if I get an on the spot fine cos I thought someone looked 18 and they weren't, please tell me what i'm supposed to feed my kids on?

ZootHornRollo

As a deputy manager in a supermarket. i can stand up and say that the incident in the original post was handled badly but the manager was in the right. It is the person serving the alcohol who gets fined should the law be broken, not the shop, so long as adequate training has been given.

The 'attitude' of the manager is the issue. he can refuse any sale to any person for any reason, the company pays him to be responsible for the shop and will quite rightly stand by him in when a complaint is registered. I read with interest the comments that complaints to head office will fall on deaf ears - how do you know this? It is after all not in the companies interest to ignore the complaints of its customers. what are you expecting to happen? a large notice put up instore that the manager has been repremanded/fired because...??? You can't go around dishing out written warnings/firing people because one letter of complaint is recieved at head office. The original poster is a professional driver, how would they feel if they got 3 points and a fine because a member of the public wrote a letter to the DVLA detailing how they witnessed the driver speeding past a school?

funkyparrot

You also need to remember that it is an offence for a licensee or his agent to serve alcohol to someone who is drunk; the Police have the power to issue the individual serving a £80 fine, this is on top of any action taken against the licensee.

This means that if the chequeout operator breached the law, they personally would be liable for an £80 fine.

Would you take the risk if you were serving? In our area Police have done undercover 'stings' on several outlets wherby bar tenders / cashiers have been personally hit with penalty notices peronally.

FP

Mattjimf

SAHARA wrote:

Its no longer a defence to say that the person looked 18. If they look under 21, you have to ID them to make sure they are over 18."Jumped up little hitlers" doesn't even enter into it. I earn £105 a week, so if I get an on the spot fine cos I thought someone looked 18 and they weren't, please tell me what i'm supposed to feed my kids on?

the jumped up hitler part is for the staff who refuse to serve people over 18 with a passport or driving licence, citing they are under 21. Maybe it wasn't clear in my first post.

ZootHornRollo

Mattjimf wrote:

the jumped up hitler part is for the staff who refuse to serve people over 18 with a passport or driving licence, citing they are under 21. Maybe it wasn't clear in my first post.

This may be due to a policy of the store in which they do this. Remember, the law states you cannot serve any one under the age of 18 alcohol, it does not say you must serve everyone over the age of 18 alcohol. Just like some nightclubs/pubs are over 21's or 25's. Go on to eBay and search for 'fake id'. Accepting a fake id is treated as badly as not asking for id, you still served someone under 18 with alcohol. Someone who looks 21 is far more likely to be over 18 than someone who looks 18, with or without id. Its a safety net.

I have refused to sell alcohol to over 18's i believe were passing the drink onto underagers, whether i was right or wrong i don't know. i also won't sell cigarettes to anyone in a school uniform even if they have ID stating they are over 16.

I have bills and rent to pay just like many of you. i would rather make the wrong call every now and again than risk my job. I er on the side of caution everytime i serve alcohol.

i advise all staff in my store to do the same.

ZootHornRollo

Also bear in mind that all shops want your business - especially repeat business - and that there is more hassle involved for the staff/management to refuse you alcohol than to just serve it to you - we have to record every refusal in a book as part of due diligence for trading standards as well as the possibility of an arguement/complaint with the customer.

People are only trying to do their jobs AND stay within the law.

hollydays

.applaud your responsibility in other ares.Not all stores fill these books in,and the majority of staff i have known would not have known about the existance of such a book.

grex9101

regarding the not serving police officers in uniform....

this is actually the law.... (maybe just in scotland)

I remember there was a big stooshie about this in a Co-op (i believe) up Aberdeen way, where a store manager refuse to serve two cops who were trying to buy sandwiches and papers.... he was fully within his rights to do so (going by the word of the law) but the Co-op apologised as the manager, although acting within his rights (and the law), was seen to be taking his role too seriously, and some sort of compromise was reached.

I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of this law was, but it's safe to say that it still applies, although very rarely observed....

IvanOpinion

But why could they not buy papers and a sandwich? I see police in the shops many times buying things from papers, sandwiches, petrol, apples ? I don;t understand this

Another respondent also thought that it only referred to alchohol (that I can understand) ??? So come on what is the definitive answer here

Ivan

hjb123

hollydays wrote:

Not all stores fill these books in,and the majority of staff i have known would not have known about the existance of such a book.

When I was working in retail the new staff were trained about the refusals book during their induction so they would know about the existence of the book.