I was quite surprised to find that on a trip to my local supermarket to purchase a bottle of wine, I was asked for ID - something that hasn't happened for a number of years now.

It wasn't a case of the assistant thinking I was under the legal minimum age of 18 to purchase said plonk, but that she thought I might be under the age of 25 (a fair assumption since I'm 26).

The ever-so annoying policy of the supermarket in question is that it's customers will be asked for identification should that customer look under 25 - just to save you doing the maths, that's a whole 7 years above the age set down by the Licensing Act 2003 (c. 17) Part 7, 146 (1).

Fortunately I had my driving licence with me, and there was no problem. However, had I not have had any identification on me, I would have caused a bit of a scene and demanded to speak to a supervisor or manager. The policy, almost certainly put in place to protect the stores staff in case of mistakes, has got to the point of inconveniencing people who are obviously of the legal age to purchase alcohol.

I accepted the older policy of asking those who looked under the age of 21 since the 3 year difference provided a suitable margin for error when asking for proof of age but this is ridiculous. Should the supermarket find that mistakes are occurring and that sales to minors are happening even with the 25 policy, will they up it to 30 years?

Here's a better idea: train the staff to a suitable standard so they do not make mistakes. Make sure they understand that they are liable just as the store licence holder is should they sell to an underage person. If a staff member cannot grasp this oh-so-simple concept, then that person should be fired.

I used to work in a licenced premises, and understand the pressures of ensuring that alcohol isn't sold to those under 18, but I didn't even run a policy of asking those who I thought were under 21. It was simply a case that if there was the smallest of doubts that the customer was not old enough, or buying to supply to a minor then that customer was refused. Now what is so difficult about that?

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Tags: alcohol sales