I started drinking at about 13, at the time the law was particularly lax in terms of making people ask for ID so we actually had very few problems obtaining the alcohol. Sadly that has changed, I personally hate having to ID people, but at the end of the day it is me who gets hauled over the coals for it. As I mentioned before the company will now take anyone who fails a test purchase to disciplinary, but equally badly the law hauls you over the coals. There is a statutory fine of 80 quid, on the spot. If that wasn't bad enough you get interviewed by the police, and can go to court where not only can you receive up to a 3000 pound fine (not to mention putting the shops license at risk

) but you can actually get sent to jail for it.
I've never heard of anyone who _has_ actually gone to jail for that yet, but the law is currently seeking to make examples of people, especially in the wake of the massive c*ck up they made with licensing.
Anyone on these forums live in westminister? Try buy a can of Tennents, or any other lager over 5.5% ABV many of the offlicenses and supermarkets have been banned from doing so in an attempt to combat alcoholism. Forgive me if Im niave, but if I was an Alcoholic and I couldn't get my Tennents I would quite happily shift onto cheap Whisky
its the buyers choice if they want to drink no matter what age they are.
I totally agree with you, theres nothing worse than a nanny state, unfortunately that is what we live in. I hope the above has made clear exactly why we as an industry are so harsh with ID, its not vindictiveness (well sometimes it is

) more self preservation.
for anyone after an example of just how harsh the government is being at the moment, read the following;
There is an independant offlicense in Westminister who re-applied for his license (as everyone had to under the new scheme) in order to try and make sure he got it, he listed everything he though might help in terms of measures he takes, right down to the fact he has had a non-slip floor (Carpet I assume) put in. Gets to his license hearing and everything he wrote has become a requirement on his license, so if he needs to change his flooring (wear and tear perhaps) he has to apply for a new license!
its things like this that display how little the governement really cares for anyone. Drinking at 13 is not good for your body, but it was and still is my choice. Unfortunately the media did not help matters in their flurry of 24 hour licensing == alcoholic nation,
us asking for ID != we don't want your custom, we just can't risk not IDing any more. Sadly theres no benchmark for whether people look 21 or not, so different peoples judgement comes into play (Yes I am fully aware the law says 18 but given the harshness of the punishment we need the 3 year error margin, if you have ID showing you are over 18 then you get served, but if you look under 21 you will be asked for it)
Just to finish this post, I would point out that when I went to Canada you needed 2 forms of ID on you to get served, one was not enough. I think the government needs a boot up the *ss before we let it get that bad.
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sorry never answered your question

yes even if you turn around and walk out I have paperwork to do, its all about proving to Trading Standards et al that we are being vigilant with ID. In fact if I ask you for ID and you do have it, I even have to put a code into the till so that Head office and Trading Standards get an idea of what proportion of people we are IDing. Its a sad sad system really, we are located near a high school so I end up doing a huge amount of paperwork on the basis of schoolkids trying their luck.
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Incidentally, Im glad to hear people are walking out rather than throwing fits. Obviously we would rather your custom, but I have had people throw money, bottles and various other things at me just from the words Have you got ID? Strangely though when they do that there is no more paperwork than if they don't. Sums it up really - potential physical assault (and for some of my colleagues actual assualt) generates less paperwork than someone not bringing ID. Well for us at least Im sure Head Office probably have more to do than us