Vent at morrisons

Shrimply

But Alcohol and Knife laws are different and you are lumping them together.

It IS illegal to buy alcohol for someone under the age of 18. And there are specific laws which say exactly that. They do not cover all age restricted products, they relate specifically to alcohol.

https://www.gov.uk/alcohol-young-people-law

There are no such laws for knifes, or age restricted products in general.

powerful_Rogue

First to hold my hands up when im wrong. After much research it appears only the sale of knives is restricted. There is no legislation in force to stop an adult purchasing a knife for a minor even when they are with them.

The cashier can of course still refuse the sale, but that comes under contract law. As such, you would hope common sense would be applied which clearly wasn't in this situation.

Good debate and apologies to those involved.

kev_min

Sorry for not returning to this earlier but have been rather busy carving pumkins and generally entertaining the grandkids for a few days which somewhat prevents surfing the interweb....

Anyway I am glad to report that I managed to purchase said "leathal" weapon the next day as I escaped to the shop alone!

I have no doubt that the cashier was acting with good intent and following the instructions given during her training, after all they are not trained on the finer nuances of the law. In fact during the entire process she was polite and even seemed supprised that the computer said "no", as was her supervisor.

Many replies here have suggested that the cashier should have applied common sense. I am inclined to disagree with this as she was acting on her training, and sadly in this day and age it seems that common sense is no defence in law, and we all know examples of that!

I am sure that the root cause of the problem lies with whoever told the computer that this was an age restricted item in the first place.

For the record the "blade" concerned is as blunt as a blunt thing and can best be described as a 2 1/2" long yale key with its teeth rounded off....

Is there a lesson to be taken from this experience? In my case yes, I will be unaccompanied when I go to get the "woosh, Bangs" for the weekends events just in case someone thinks I am training the next OBL, not that she needs any training to be a terror!

pendragon_arther

kev_min wrote: »

Sorry for not returning to this earlier but have been rather busy carving pumkins and generally entertaining the grandkids for a few days which somewhat prevents surfing the interweb....

Anyway I am glad to report that I managed to purchase said "leathal" weapon the next day as I escaped to the shop alone!

I have no doubt that the cashier was acting with good intent and following the instructions given during her training, after all they are not trained on the finer nuances of the law. In fact during the entire process she was polite and even seemed supprised that the computer said "no", as was her supervisor.

Many replies here have suggested that the cashier should have applied common sense. I am inclined to disagree with this as she was acting on her training, and sadly in this day and age it seems that common sense is no defence in law, and we all know examples of that!

I am sure that the root cause of the problem lies with whoever told the computer that this was an age restricted item in the first place.

For the record the "blade" concerned is as blunt as a blunt thing and can best be described as a 2 1/2" long yale key with its teeth rounded off....

Is there a lesson to be taken from this experience? In my case yes, I will be unaccompanied when I go to get the "woosh, Bangs" for the weekends events just in case someone thinks I am training the next OBL, not that she needs any training to be a terror!

I too hold up my hands and wish the person who was the recipient of this assistant's brain returns it forthwith.

Shrimply

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

First to hold my hands up when im wrong. After much research it appears only the sale of knives is restricted. There is no legislation in force to stop an adult purchasing a knife for a minor even when they are with them.

The cashier can of course still refuse the sale, but that comes under contract law. As such, you would hope common sense would be applied which clearly wasn't in this situation.

Good debate and apologies to those involved.

No need to apologise, to me at least, I do like a good debate, and it was a good distraction from what I was supposed to be doing.

I do think it highlights that fact that, people, and especially cashiers etc could do with a bit more information about age restrictions on products. And that fact there isn't a catch all policy for such items.

[Deleted User]

Shrimply wrote: »

No need to apologise, to me at least, I do like a good debate, and it was a good distraction from what I was supposed to be doing.

I do think it highlights that fact that, people, and especially cashiers etc could do with a bit more information about age restrictions on products. And that fact there isn't a catch all policy for such items.

Oh but the cashiers do get regular training on age restricted products and have to pass regular multi-choice tests etc.

Whether it is a knife or not that is up for debate, but it is obviously flagged as a restricted product on Morrisons systems and therefore the cashier has to follow the rules or risk being disciplined leading to dismissal.

As already said, if you are not happy with these laws then take it up with your government, who you probably voted in. I bet no one does as all they want to do is vent their anger at the cashier.

Shrimply

If they are being trained and taking it on board then they are being trained wrongly.

Different restricted products have different laws which clearly the cashier was not correctly informed about.

Yes Morrison flagged it as a restricted item, but the cashier did not follow the correct procedure for that type of age restricted product. I can't honestly believe that people are still arguing this.

Deleted_User wrote: »

As already said, if you are not happy with these laws then take it up with your government, who you probably voted in. I bet no one does as all they want to do is vent their anger at the cashier.

Have you read any of the thread? As has been said several times, there is no law against an adult buying a knife with a minor present, even if their intention is to give that child the knife.

pendragon_arther

Shrimply wrote: »

If they are being trained and taking it on board then they are being trained wrongly.

Different restricted products have different laws which clearly the cashier was not correctly informed about.

Yes Morrison flagged it as a restricted item, but the cashier did not follow the correct procedure for that type of age restricted product. I can't honestly believe that people are still arguing this.



Have you read any of the thread? As has been said several times, there is no law against an adult buying a knife with a minor present, even if their intention is to give that child the knife.

I agree. Added to which out of all the 1000s of this product being sold and all staff undergoing the same training just this one particular assistant chose to interpret the rule in their own very stupid and incorrect way.

[Deleted User]

pendragon_arther wrote: »

I agree. Added to which out of all the 1000s of this product being sold and all staff undergoing the same training just this one particular assistant chose to interpret the rule in their own very stupid and incorrect way.

Can you blame them, the amount of times they get it drilled into them about challenge 25.

fed_up_and_stressed

Shrimply wrote: »

If they are being trained and taking it on board then they are being trained wrongly.

Different restricted products have different laws which clearly the cashier was not correctly informed about.

Yes Morrison flagged it as a restricted item, but the cashier did not follow the correct procedure for that type of age restricted product. I can't honestly believe that people are still arguing this.



Have you read any of the thread? As has been said several times, there is no law against an adult buying a knife with a minor present, even if their intention is to give that child the knife.

but that doesn't mean Morrisons procedure may not exceed statutory requirements - ie law is no knife sales to under 18's, Morrison's policy may be no sales to under 18's or those over 18 intending to purchase for minors. It is a minimum requirement not a maximum.

Challenge 25 is a good example of this. Official guidance states challenge 3 years older than statutory age (18) not 7 as most retailers practice.

Also there is no right to purchase anything as the contract to purchase is made when the terms are accepted by both parties. Legally the cashier could say nope im not selling you that pumpkin carving set or a loaf of bread because i dislike your shoes ..admittedly I'm sure his / her employer would be thrilled -not, but that is the law.