Tesco Alcohol Freedom, or Lack Of
I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while. Generally if a big shop is required a few of us go together in a vehicle. Contrary to what student life might have you believe, alcohol isn’t purchased on every occasion. We just buy lots when there’s a special offer on! Sometimes only half or one of us will purchase alcohol, and the rest will simply be shopping for food. It’s during this circumstance where Tesco’s policy on alcoholic purchases becomes an authoritarian law unto itself. If the individual buying the drink looks under 25 then they’re ID’ed, which is fair enough, we have laws in this country that stop under 18′s from purchasing alcohol. Tesco extend this policy to anybody you’re with! If there are four people doing four different shops and all paying separately, they all must provide identification or the customer cannot go through with his or her transaction.
I cannot fathom the reasoning behind it. All the policy serves to do is inconvenience legitimate customers. Let’s pretend there’s a bunch of teenagers, one is old enough and is purchasing alcohol, the others are not of age and they plan to go out of the store and get lashed on the streets of Hull. To bypass this policy all they need to do is send the person of legal age to the checkout. It’s no skin off their nose attending different tills, after all they’re not old enough anyway. The policy doesn’t work.
If a 40 year old man with his 13 year old daughter came to purchase alcohol, again I doubt there would be any problem. No ID would be required as the gentleman is clearly over the age of 18, and yet evidently the child is not old enough but must not produce identification. Why are groups being treated differently? As far as I’m aware the contract is between the customer and the supermarket, not whomever the customer might have arrived at the store with. If said customer decides to purchase alcohol so that under 18′s can get drunk on the streets then that is for the police to deal with, not for Tesco to attempt, and fail as mentioned earlier, to enforce.
4 Responses to “Tesco Alcohol Freedom, or Lack Of”
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Chris on July 23rd, 2009
Indeed. The other day I was in Morrisons with my Dad, who bought me a shed load of beer. No questions asked. The next day in Tesco I was in there with my Mum. I got asked for ID though I wasn’t making the transaction. I didn’t have my ID on me, so my Mum got told she couldn’t buy a bottle of wine.
I worked at a supermarket and staff can ONLY be prosecuted if they sell to underage. That’s the person who passes over money. It’s a didgy area for ‘supplying’ alcohol to underagers. It’s not like my own mother, a 65 year old is going to willingly buy me wine if I’m going to sit on a street corner and get lashed. Common sense goes totally out of the window when it comes to sales of alcohol.
And with the supermarkets/pubs etc doing the ‘Don’t be offended if you’re under 21 and get asked for ID’ lark, I’m over 21, 22 in October so therefore, technically, i should NEVER be asked for proof of age cos I’m over 21!
Liri on July 23rd, 2009
This has been bugging me for ages! The same thing has happened to me on several occasions. The difficulty is when you get untrained staff who are clearly on a power trip – and their managers feel they have to back them up. It’s insulting and offensive and ageist – and you’re right – it wouldn’t happen if a parent went shopping with a child.
Diesel on July 27th, 2009
Generally, if a group come in, I ID them all simply because the person buying the alcohol could be buying it for anyone else in the group. It’s just responible retailing, and I totally agree with it. Who doesn’t have some form of ID over the age of 18 anyway…?
dan on August 15th, 2009
ok ppl, time for a law lesson… IT IS against the law to sell alcohol to someone that is under 18… ID MUST be shown if the operator believes the customer is under 25 (depending on store policy, (think 21 and think 25) If there is a group ALL must have ID by law because of supply, they cannot just leave the premises if they have already been seen with the group at ANY point whilst on the premises… right now for the part where ppl do not get, if your are a parent with your child the operator will make an assessment on age of child, and type of alcohol, such as if you have a 13-25 yr old with you, they then can be asked for ID!! even tho the law states you CAN buy alcohol for you child, the prob is you HAVE to prove this is your child, which is nearly impossible, the fine for the operator is up to £5000, loss of job and a criminal record for the rest of life if they sell alcohol illegally in ANY of the ways above … PLUS even if you are lets say 30 but LOOK under 25 you MUST have ID!!! and ANY shop can refuse to sell you anything at any time without reason!! its private property ppl!! They also do NOT have to have signs, AND only accept photo ID of a certain quality, if you do not look like the person then why would you get it??? most stores will only accept, a National ID card (UK ONLY) passport (any country, must be in date and good quality… AN ID with a PASS hologram, thats it…