Tesco and their alcohol policy!

loracan1

No, I don't suppose the signs do make that clear - but on the training it emphasises that if there is the slightest, most remote possibility that they may be buying it 'with' someone who may be under 25 that they also need to provide id.

I wouldn't refuse a sale to someone buying with their teenage son - but I'd ID all who may be under 25 of a group of four friends even if only one was buying. And if they couldn't provide it I'd have to refuse the sale. It's not easy, it's not pleasant, it's just that once you've made that judgement call you have to follow through with it.

And don't get me started on the 'limit of 2 packs of analgesics' bit...

Mrs_Ryan

OH thinks its hilarious when I get ID'd - he's 38 and looks older, and Im 28 and look younger! We have had a few glances if buying alcohol as part of our weekly shop, but I think its more on the lines of 'is that her dad or her partner' lol.
I was in our local Co-Op at New Year and the woman on the till is universally hated by the entire village as she is horrible, and there were two young lads in front of me trying to buy alcohol, naturally they got ID'd and all they had were their Army ID, she had a smirk on her face as she said 'we cant take them because they are probably forged!'
I was so glad I didnt get served by her - I would have said something. My cousin is in the Army and I know that forging Army ID isnt an option. Someone actually shouted at her as they left the shop 'they are prepared to lay their lives on the line for this country but you can only accuse them of being liars!'
She did have the good grace to look ashamed and to be fair I've not seen her since behind the counter. I know that you can be in the Army at 17 but since I've seen an article about how Wetherspoons were shown up over not allowing Forces ID as to be used as ID and now they have had to change their policy - I think common sense needs to prevail.

jb66

A little off topic but...

I witnessed a customer trying to buy some sort of cooking wine at 10am on a sun morning and was refused due to Scottish licensing laws that state that you cannot buy alcohol before 12:30 on a Sunday.

Guy was furious as it wasnt for drinking

shoplady_2

Recently popped into tesco with my sister to buy bottle of port for my dad as a gift, we were approached and asked for ID as soon as we walked into the wine aisle of the store! I am 26, my sister 23, I have no problem being asked for id if I am purchasing alcohol but think it is a bit much before when haven't even decided if i want to purchase anything!

surreysaver

lufcgirl wrote: »

It all comes down to common sense, something I think a lot of people lack.

People aren't allowed to use common sense these days...

surreysaver

Esqui wrote: »

not only could the store get fined if a cashier sells alcohol to, or for, someone under 18, but the cashier can too. It's understandable they want to be sure...there are many people under 18 who look a lot older than their age would suggest.

As the cashier now seems to be responsible, if I did that job I would just refuse to sell any alcohol. Sod these Muslims who don't want to sell it due to religion, I wouldn't want to sell it due to silly laws. Anyway, if you are going to buy alcohol for a minor, then you would have the minor well out of the way to avoid suspicion, anyway?

JoeyG

I'm a bit confused, as I'm sure are a lot of others on here

Does the law actually state that stores stores are responsible for alcohol ending up with a minor? (even if bought by an adult)... If this is the case then its tenuous to say the least!... What if a bottle of wine is bought as a present for another adult then ends up with a child, or a bottle of whisky sits in the cabinet for 5 years before a child drinks it, are these cases really going to be traced back to the vendor?

AFAIK if a restricted product ends up in the hands of a minor then it is the responsibility of the owner not the seller, why not so for alcohol?

If it is the case that the supermarkets are adopting a policy (irrespective of the law) that says they must not sell to alcohol to anyone who they suspect may pass it on to a minor then surely they need to exercise the policy correctly... How can you possibly suspect such a thing unless it actually comes up in conversation?... and it's nonsense to suggest an employee can be sacked if alcohol does get passed from an adult customer to a minor, as long as they maintain they did not suspect the alcohol would be passed on then they cannot legally be sacked!

If supermarkets are adopting a policy whereby any groups of customers together must all show ID before being served alcohol (which I suspect is the case) then they should not claim to be upholding the law, in fact I'm pretty sure they're not allowed to make such a claim, although a law expect may be able to confirm this.

Sharon87

I used to work on checkouts all the time at Asda. I hated asking ID for someone who looked between 20 and 25. I could never judge age and ended up ID'ing lots of 28-30 year olds. Most of them seem flattered to be ID'd lol, even after I explained about Challenge 25.

I've neer refused a couple alcohol when one of them had ID. I always used my common sense when IDing. The only time I refused alcohol to someone who had ID was a couple of 18 year olds who were with a bunch of mates buying 3 cases of beer/cider.

I actually hate not having one of these policies in my job working at cinema, as for 18 films it's difficult to tell whether people are old enough or not. I still use the Challenge 25 in my head when asking for ID, then the people feel offended as we don't have that system in place.

I don't think the law will punish the checkout person for selling alcohol to someone, who then later gives it to a minor, unless the checkout person had knowledge they were doing just that. I've never had this problem, whilst serving or when I was younger. I always use to go with my Mum shopping, always bought alcohol. She had no problem getting it - even though some of the alcohol was for me lol (not to drink on the streets though, never did that!) The only thing that came up was a joke by one of the asda staff - he joked we have to be over 18 and over 5ft to be in the aisle (me and my mum are both 4 foot 11 lol)

muffintop

I am 32 with plenty of grey hair and got id'd a few weeks ago in Tesco buying a bottle of (pretty expensive) wine. I was surprised to say the least. I asked the checkout staff whether she thought I was under 18. She said under 25 and that the law had changed - that one had to be over 25 to buy alcohol. I know that to be incorrect and told her so, but wonder what on earth Tesco are teaching its staff. Encouraging them to misstate the law to customers must be wrong.

My brother is a Trading Standards officer and says that the policy for trading standards is still "Think 21". He was amazed that supermarkets go as far as "Think 25". I think its ridiculous.

MothballsWallet

Alias_Omega wrote: »

I think they are right to ask for ID if you dont look older enough. After all, its challenge 21.?

No, not just Challenge 21: there's Task 25 (or Think 25) in some stores. (Honestly, how much did some idiot get paid for coming up with these names?)

I've said this before on MSE, and I will say it again: why don't these stores all use the same scheme? Then there's consistency, not the current mess of "which store uses which scheme".

It's the same thing with the Agewatch/Citizencard cards as well - some places accept one or the other, a few places accept both, and still others accept neither.