Wee rant about Wetherspoons and proof of age!

furrypolka

No advice needed, I just wanted to have a little “raar” about the local Wetherspoons pub.

The manageress there seems to have little understanding of the licensing legislation and acceptable forms of proof of ID.

My fiancé is 19, and looks his age so he is regularly IDed when we are out in town. He has a Citizencard as proof of age, which is an accredited PASS logo card. However this pub refuses to accept this as ID and asks instead for drivers licence or passport, neither of which he either has or can afford.

ACPO state that PASS cards are the preferred method of ID as driving licences and passports are breeding documents for identity fraud, as well as being very expensive to replace. PASS cards are also recommended by Trading Standards and the Home Office. The logo itself is very complex and almost impossible to forge, and there are no known forgeries reported nationally.

However when I very politely explained this to the manageress at Wetherspoons she was very rude and aggressive to me, and would not listen to a word I was saying. I was calm and reasonable and was simply trying to explain more about the PASS scheme and how it works alongside responsible retailing.

She kept banging on about losing her licence. Now, I fully understand the need to ask for ID and entirely encourage the practice both personally and professionally. However, if you have asked someone for ID and they have produced a solid-looking Citizencard, how on earth could she then lose her licence? Even if it was a fake (and as I have said, I am confident that such cards do not exist), there would be a due diligence defence. In addition, TS and the police do not do undercover test purchases using fake ID!

She had a real attitude problem, kept interrupting and talking over me and eventually stormed off. I really resent being treated like this in a pub that I have been going to regularly for years, ever since it opened. I won’t be going there any longer, but I do wish that some other pubs around here sold Kopparberg!

It seems in this pub there is a real lack of training and understanding of both the requirements of the legislation and the acceptable – and preferable - forms of ID. I’ve written another (polite!) letter this time to Head Office about the issue, so we will see if anything comes of that. An apology at least would be nice.

I don’t know if this sort of practice is a common thing, but I find it very frustrating and I never had this sort of problem when I was 18. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be thrown out of a pub at age 30 because they thought my other half was under age!

maninthestreet

Suggest you write to Weatherspoon's Head Office asking for clarification of their company policy on this:

J D Wetherspoon plc
Wetherspoon House
Central Park
Reeds Crescent
Watford
WD24 4QL

Telephone
01923 477777

furrypolka

The irony is that JD Wetherspoon as a chain actually promotes Citizencard as the best form of ID and even produce their own leaflets offering half price Citizencards using the enclosed form.

I will see what they say.

nej

The real irony is that the Wetherspons near where I used to live was the place that all the kids (but not me, oh no!) used to go to get served at age 15...

iceicebaby

My parents have been licensees for most of their adult lives. the only form of ID they accept is photo driving license or a passport.

Still no excuse for the woman to be rude to you tho.

Kilty_2

furrypolka wrote: »

I never had this sort of problem when I was 18. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be thrown out of a pub at age 30 because they thought my other half was under age!

I know people aged 16 that get served in Wetherspoons (not me mind, that being illegal and all :rolleyes:):rotfl:

I'm curious, where's your local?

furrypolka

It's The Swan in Weymouth.

kr15snw

Ive been ID'd at my local wetherspoons everytime since I turned 18 (now 20) (intersting thing is I got in before I was 18 no problems). Well I have a driving licence so no problems!

Youd think..

Last time I went in the bouncer asked me to take it out of my wallet, and after an age of him looking he says 'this isnt you'. The only thing that has changed is I now have my hair highlighted. I laughed and said he could look through my wallet as I have many a bank card / credit card with my name on. He then said 'You could have stole the wallet'. I told him to look at both my student cards which have my name, signature and picture on. Which matched the details on all my other things! After looking at both my student cards and showing them to his colleague he decided I could go in, but of course he had to have the last word 'we'll be keeping an eye on you'.

It really winds me up in there!!!!!!

Oh and one night I didnt have my wallet as my boyfriend was taking me out for dinner they wouldnt let me in as I didnt have ID. It was 7pm and there were kids inside! But as they were with adults it didnt matter! I was driving so wouldnt be drinking anyway. I pointed to my boyfriend and said 'look Im with a 34 year odl who will happily show you ID to prove this, can he be my adult?' 'No hes not your legal guardian it doesnt count' (How do they know hes not my brother!!)
GRRRRR

faded_flowers

The irony is that JD Wetherspoon as a chain actually promotes Citizencard as the best form of ID and even produce their own leaflets offering half price Citizencards using the enclosed form.

Yes! I once showed my Citizencard at the bar and was told 'we don't accept those'... so I pointed to the advertising stand not two foot away, on the bar, full of leaflets and asked why they were promoting them then! I've also been asked for ID buying a meal before 7. I wasn't aware you needed proof of age to buy food these days :rolleyes:

loracan1

It all comes down to educating the staff - big drive on clamping down on underage drinking at the moment so they're hyper about checking. BUT, they should be kept informed of the different forms of ID acceptable. It is really up to them if they accept 'PASS' or, it still isn't that common - round here anyway and I'd sooner see a driving licence or passport myself. I'd get another member of staff to doublecheck if I got shown a 'PASS'. (Until you see something a few times it isn't familiar enough to know)

asea

I have had the same problem with using the card at Lloyds TSPoo - I don't have a driving license and am not going to risk carrying my passport around so carry this instead it's really annoying