Tesco not selling alcohol

debralee_2

I normally carry my driving licence everywhere with me, but not long ago I popped out to tesco metro to get a few bits. Didn't bother taking my purse just grabbed my cards out but forgot my id. Decided buy a couple of bottles of beer and surprise surprise I got IDed. The SA refused to serve me, though I had a tesco's clubcard (which you have to be 18 to apply for). She said I could have borrowed it from someone! So then I showed her my debit card which had my name on (and it matches the name on the clubcard). Apparently that wasn't good enough!

vyle

Isn't it ironic that one of the reasons europe is credited with a more "responsible attitude to alcohol" is because families on the continent let their kids drink in a responsible way with meals and whatnot?

Helix

debralee wrote: »

I normally carry my driving licence everywhere with me, but not long ago I popped out to tesco metro to get a few bits. Didn't bother taking my purse just grabbed my cards out but forgot my id. Decided buy a couple of bottles of beer and surprise surprise I got IDed. The SA refused to serve me, though I had a tesco's clubcard (which you have to be 18 to apply for). She said I could have borrowed it from someone! So then I showed her my debit card which had my name on (and it matches the name on the clubcard). Apparently that wasn't good enough!

You might have to be 18 to apply for a clubcard but they don't do any rigarous checks to make sure you actually are, you can just put down a different DOB that makes you over 18 and they wouldn't know. With Passports, Driving Licences and PASS Cards checks are made, so they know the DOB is correct.

Helix

debtfreein4years wrote: »

strong worded letter to tesco complaints about their staff's lack of commonsense. i think it is age discrimination as so what if i want to puchase any adult beverage but have a minor with me (im 23 and her mum is in her 40's). what age child are you allowed to shop with and purchase alcohol with? would i be allowed to purchase wine if i had a baby with me or not just in case i decided to be an irresponsible person and gave a baby wine. its an absolute joke. the only people you are not allowed to serve alcohol to are a policeman on duty, an underage person and someone who is already intoxicated. i didnt fall under any of those categories so why did they refuse the sale of a couple of bottles of wine?

rant over and off to do complaint letter.

I personally would have done the same, asked for ID from both of you. We are told in our training to use common sense so if its a Mother and Daughter then its OK but its pretty obvious if your 23 and shes 16 your not her mum unless you had her when you were 8 which isn't going to happen. If you were with a baby or a toddler then I would serve you. Plus btw its no longer illegal to serve alcohol to on duty police officers.

ShelfStacker_3

Sorry, but I really, really can't empathise with the people complaining on this thread. (The disabled gent who was told his kids couldn't carry a bag with alcohol in it being an exception.)

First of all, if you're idiotic enough to say out loud that you're going to buy alcohol for a minor, while at a till, then you deserve to have the sale refused. Common sense doesn't come into it - it's illegal for a shop to sell where they know the drink will be passed to a minor, and it's illegal for a customer to buy where they'll be passing it to a minor. Perhaps some should look more at their own common sense in announcing that they're going to break the law in front of the person who has been instructed to stop them. Even if you don't announce it, they still can't sell, seeing as one of the main ways for underage kids to get booze is through getting other people to buy it for them (I often get kids outside my flats asking me to get them fags in the nearby corner shop... one day I'll just take their money and leave. Or buy them Nicorette patches instead. Little scrotes.)

Secondly, people can look younger than their years, and they can look older than them. Till staff aren't clairvoyant and can't be expected to magically know when someone's over 21 or not - if they could do that then they wouldn't be asking for ID. Similarly, they're not going to know that the young person you're with is your daughter who's just with you on a shopping trip, and being frank they have no reason to believe you. It's all very well screaming "common sense", but the thing is that one misjudged "common sense" bending of the rules could lead to a massive fine for all concerned. The policies are in place for a reason, and that reason is not just to p*ss you off (this applies to many, many things, I might add.)

Thirdly, no, a Clubcard is not ID. No, a debit card is not ID. Tesco would be perfectly in the right to refuse both of those, for a start because under 18s have been issued debit cards for a number of years now. My 16 year old brother has a Visa Debit, by these standards he'd be sold to.

Fourthly, anyone who uses the word "jobsworth" is a !!!!!. For a start, because selling alcohol to someone who's under 18 through another bit of misjudged "common sense" could actually cost you your job.

Finally - really, how hard is it to carry ID? Photocard driver's license, Portman group card if you don't have one... if you're under about 25 that's just inexcusable, since you should know there's a good chance you're going to get IDed!

GrammarGirl

I agree with everything ShelfStacker has said.

When I was 16, I used to borrow my friend's credit card as ID to get into clubs with the logic that you had to be over 18 to get a credit card. It worked, but it didn't work in a supermarket (think it was Asda!) when I tried to use it to buy 5 bottles of wine! The cashier quite rightly pointed out that the card could be anyone's. I was so embarassed at being caught out that I left meekly and never tried the fake ID route again!

I would never contest someone who asked me for ID. I always carry my driving license and have no problem proving my age.

Helix

ShelfStacker wrote: »

Finally - really, how hard is it to carry ID? Photocard driver's license, Portman group card if you don't have one... if you're under about 25 that's just inexcusable, since you should know there's a good chance you're going to get IDed!

Yep and you may as well sort youself out now if you don't have any ID, as almost all shops are moving to Think 25 in the summer. So if they think you look 25 or under you will get ID'd.

maninthestreet

ShelfStacker wrote: »

Sorry, but I really, really can't empathise with the people complaining on this thread. (The disabled gent who was told his kids couldn't carry a bag with alcohol in it being an exception.)

First of all, if you're idiotic enough to say out loud that you're going to buy alcohol for a minor, while at a till, then you deserve to have the sale refused. Common sense doesn't come into it - it's illegal for a shop to sell where they know the drink will be passed to a minor, and it's illegal for a customer to buy where they'll be passing it to a minor. Perhaps some should look more at their own common sense in announcing that they're going to break the law in front of the person who has been instructed to stop them. Even if you don't announce it, they still can't sell, seeing as one of the main ways for underage kids to get booze is through getting other people to buy it for them (I often get kids outside my flats asking me to get them fags in the nearby corner shop... one day I'll just take their money and leave. Or buy them Nicorette patches instead. Little scrotes.)

Secondly, people can look younger than their years, and they can look older than them. Till staff aren't clairvoyant and can't be expected to magically know when someone's over 21 or not - if they could do that then they wouldn't be asking for ID. Similarly, they're not going to know that the young person you're with is your daughter who's just with you on a shopping trip, and being frank they have no reason to believe you. It's all very well screaming "common sense", but the thing is that one misjudged "common sense" bending of the rules could lead to a massive fine for all concerned. The policies are in place for a reason, and that reason is not just to p*ss you off (this applies to many, many things, I might add.)

Thirdly, no, a Clubcard is not ID. No, a debit card is not ID. Tesco would be perfectly in the right to refuse both of those, for a start because under 18s have been issued debit cards for a number of years now. My 16 year old brother has a Visa Debit, by these standards he'd be sold to.

Fourthly, anyone who uses the word "jobsworth" is a !!!!!. For a start, because selling alcohol to someone who's under 18 through another bit of misjudged "common sense" could actually cost you your job.

Finally - really, how hard is it to carry ID? Photocard driver's license, Portman group card if you don't have one... if you're under about 25 that's just inexcusable, since you should know there's a good chance you're going to get IDed!

You would, however, expect checkout staff to be able to distinguish between an someone who is under 18, and someone over the age of 40, wouldn't you?
There have even been absurd cases of pensioners refused alcohol on the basis that they cannot show id that proves they are over 18.

maninthestreet

Helix wrote: »

Yep and you may as well sort youself out now if you don't have any ID, as almost all shops are moving to Think 25 in the summer. So if they think you look 25 or under you will get ID'd.

Pointless exercise, surely? If Think 21 isnt working, how will Think 25 help, given that the legal age to purchase alcohol is 18?

muddy_fox

I always carry my driving license in my wallet, so when I get asked for ID as I frequently am I have it to hand.

Cracking down at the source of alcohol really doesn't seem to be working, and all it seems to be achieving is irritating genuine customers accompanied by fresh faced over 21s or minors. My parents let me drink alcohol alcohol at home from the age of 7, I am not a raving alcoholic, I didn't go out and get rat-arsed on my eighteenth birthday as alcohol was not the forbidden fruit. An attitude change is what is needed.

I got asked for my ID when buying a 15 cert movie, I was 25 at the time, and the sales cashier cheerily informed me that 'I was only just old enough then'...very flattering, but she obviously wasn't paying much attention to the details on my license!!