Morrisons Refuses to sell wine to mother in case daughter drank it

In the netto's where I shop the young man in front of me who clearly looked in his twenties and had a big beard was asked for id he then produced it then the woman behind the till says how old is you friend sitting the car outside he said I dont know around twenty five she then called him a liar but bugrudgingly served him a crate of beer!

I don't know why I always feel the urge to invite flames, but, here goes.

Not sure about the laws in the UK, but, here in the Great State of Texas, that clerk would have been doing what is required to ensure she/he avoided violating the law.

First, that clerk can't know that the kid is, actually, the adult's offspring. Unless you want to voluntarily present your birth certificates. Here we have an agency called the TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission), which regulates the licensing of the retailers. If they determine a clerk has acted negligently in allowing a minor to obtain alcohol, the clerk will be fined and the store will be fined and will possibly lose their license to sell the highly profitable alcoholic beverages.

At times, the TABC will set up 'stings' to catch clerks doing this. Usually, it is as a result of receiving information about a previous violation. Once a retailer is cited with such a violation, their policies become more strict, at least for a while. My guess is, either this clerk or the store had, recently been warned or cited.

Lastly, in today's economic climate, that clerk knows the possibility of finding another job is all but impossible. She/he is probably doing everything possible to avoid losing that job.

Now, let the flaming commence!

Originally posted by suziwong
reply to post by detachedindividual

 

Great post Thanks for this info - I can't believe it! how can any reasonable legal system make a shop assistant responsible for the actions of another adult.

This is Wrong - rotten to the core and reflects how law abiding citizens, trying to earn a living, are being manipulated and criminalised by a corrupt few with an agenda.

I'm not so certain it is government in this case, more likely chains adhering to the letter of the law and not asking for clarification where it's needed.

The chains pass the responsibility on to their staff.

IMO, this is all about the "choice" of a person being taken and controlled because of pressure by people who might mean well but fail at mathematics.

We know that there is an under-age drinking problem in the UK, but whose responsibility is it?
And how many actually die as a result of it?
I believe strongly that it is down to the parents. It shouldn't be down to government, or chains selling alcohol, or bars and clubs.
There will always be under-age drinking, there has been since the first Monks brewed their fist Ale!

But rather than restricting the lives of every citizen, the government needs to hold the parents legally accountable for the actions of their child. And when that doesn't happen, and in the few cases where something tragic does happen to a teen due to alcohol, people need to get a grip on reality and not start a crusade to change the world based on one or two cases.

reply to post by WTFover


You are right ! - The previous posters set out new laws in the UK which make the shop assistants legally responsible for misuse of the item which the shop they work for sell.

Fundamentally/morally this is wrong on so number of levels:-

Legally, it is wholly unreasonable - to criminalise someone for the actions of others

It reinforces an ID culture in the UK - which the Govenment desperately want to increase their powers of surveillance over everyone

It promotes a nanny state culture - encourages people to police each other - with the assumption that any adult may try to "corrupt" a minor (even when there is no evidence) criminalising innocent buyers

You make a good point - unemployment is high - people are trying to hang on to their jobs - so are forced to comply with unreasonable dictates of their employer - fed down from government agenda

the whole thing stinks!

This has been happening in our local Sainsburys for months. My sister likes to take me with her and she often buys cigarettes. At first it was just this one woman who refused to serve us because of my age, and so we used to avoid her, but just now infact, my sister tried to buy some and they refused. I guess it is now store policy.

I would understand if it was a bottle of cider or some Alcopops or something like this but this was a "Bottle of Wine" how many teens stand on the street corner in the UK drinking wine "Not many" as I said they are targeting the wrong people.

Most of the under-age drinkers don't buy there booze from Morrisons anyway, they go the local corner shop "Normally owned by Asians, NOT ALWAYS but normally" and buy there booze there, I have one around the corner from where I live and there are groups of youths (Anywhere between 5-10) all drinking outside the shop. The shop owner doesn't turn them down, hell no that would be 80% of his custom out the window.

It's the same everywhere, it's the same with under-age smoking, I know many local shops that sell single cigarettes for around 50p to the local school children. So they can bring as many stupid policies out as they want with companies like "Morrisons, Tescos, ASDA" and the only people it will affect is innocent people enjoy a glass of wine with there tea after a hard days work.

This is really really stupid, because the reality is it doesn't really accomplish anything once people learn that hit's happening they'll adjust their shopping strategy and leave the kids in the car or at home. The same nannies that don't want you to smoke and have added all the taxes to both tobacco and alcohol are looking for ways to just make alcohol go away. In my state they're making all alcohol advertising on signs bigger than a certain size and billboards illegal in an attempt to drive the knowledge of alcohol into word of mouth.

The simplest solution is either don't shop at that store and if that is not an option or the law is behind them, then just don't take your kids into the store when you will have alcohol on your shopping list.

Of course if people have to leave their kids at home then the nanny state will want to take your kids away for leaving them alone - so be careful.

Wow, lucky I do not shop there....

Bright on and Hove Council think tank says children safer in pubs than on the street and I agree, they would be safer, there would be more control.. who guides the young, who teaches them how to drink responsibly?

I was out night clubbing in Brighton from the age of 14, and we were kept in check by the older ones/staff who knew we were under age.. if you drank to much/were to silly/were to aggressive, you were thrown out or barred simple as that.. which to be honest no one wanted to happen.. So there was none of the aggressive and violent behaviour that I see in today's youth. creating a more and more restrictive society will only make this worse.

Yep I've seen and been on the receiving end of this sort of nit picking! - a few examples...

The local shop where I must pop in at least every other day for something or other once asked to see the ID of a woman who was clearly in her mid 40's (and I must say she was pretty hot for her age!) - right in front of a crowded shop she was humiliated - I think she had a bottle of wine, 4 cans of larger and one of those large bags of sweets - the sort 2 people share when watching a film - she had no ID, she could only buy the sweets!

Same shop (like I said I am a regular - most of the staff know me) - a new cashier wanted to see my ID, I'm late 20's so that's kind of OK I suppose, but I did not have any with me - several of the other staff vouched for me and said it was OK - but this silly cow stuck her heels in and called the manager over (who also knew me and had served me alcohol only the previous week)... He basically said that once she had questioned me it was out of his hands - so I said can someone else serve me - he thought that would be OK - this silly cow kicked up a fuss and went on about how her judgement was being undermined!!! - I just left, never saw her working there again

And the 3rd (funniest I think) I wen't to a supermarket with a bit of a shopping list - some of the girls were getting ready back at the house we were drinking at, they wanted a pair of tweezers - I'd just brought a load of beer and a bottle of vodka, loads of crisps and chocolate.... Of course I'd forgotten the tweezers! - I've got bulging bags and the reciept in my teeth just in case security want's to check I've paid for everything.... I pick up a pair of these .99p tweezers and take them to the tobacco counter (I'd also forgotten my cigs) - I got ID'd for the tweezers!!! I had to prove I was over 16 I had no ID - I did have about £20 worth of booze in the bags with a receipt that said I'd brought it in the same shop 3 mins before!!!

I had to leave minus the tweezers that presumably I could of used to murder someone and my cigs It's getting proper strange over here - and although on principle I will always try to make these rules look daft it really doesn't help, the cashier usually feels pretty stupid anout it them selves -


Edit: One pattern I notice is that it's is almost always the older staff who cause these problems - it really seems once they get past a certain age they view everyone younger than about 30 as kids - they get a little judgemental unless your buying a nice roasting joint and some greens - buying vodka and larger must be Satans influence or something - I over heard a couple of Baptist women on the bus talking about their jobs at the Sainsburys near here... I just bet they try to screw everyone over!

[edit on 11/10/2009 by Now_Then]

lol Tweezers - instruments of the devil!!! you should know better

I did a post a while ago about someone asked for ID when buying plastic teaspoons ...... Deadly !!!

It is true unfortunately that these rules negate the need for common sense to be shown and if an individual has a small amount of power lust, they now have an excuse to lord it

IF MORRISONS ARE SO WORRIED ABOUT CHILDREN GETTING ALCOHOL WHY DO THEY BLOODY SELL IT?...

sorry i has to put that in capitols

The British are cattle, IMO.

England is what America is to become

America already has this law. There may even be some law somewheres over here that people under twenty-one can not even put wine in a sack.

Here in Quebec it's the law. Anyone buying or being with someone else buying at the checkout must show their ID to prove they are 18...generally except kids below 15-14...when they are with their parents...kids just have to stay in the car.

This is totally ridiculous, it's just politics, to ``reassure`` the dumbasses overprotecting parents who think that if this policy is there, less people under 18 will be able to have alcohol...

Guess what? The 18 years old guy can go in with a list of what his friends want to buy... they don't need to be there...and they'll have their alcohol anyway.

This is just a feel-good policy.

reply to post by Kappo



It happenned with spar way before, this was introduced, which in my eyes was illegal under Scottish Law, but they still got away with it.

I knew of a case a woman in her 30's bought alot of messge just because she had her teenage sone with her, she bought a couple bottles of cider, Ltre bottle of vodka etc, she was having a part at her house for her hubby, the clerk/assistant, once she had scanned all off her items excluding the alohol refused to put the bttles etc through the scanner unless she proved her age.

I could not believe it, even I plus a few customer were laughin at the clerk, you could see that this customer was in her 30's, but she still had to show proof off her age.

The Law does not stipulate inthe UK as far as I know, you are not allowed to give people under the age of 21 drinkwithin the home, although they are trying to introduce it.

Just another way of trying tocontrol our lifes inthe UK.


There comes a point where the population of the UK are going to say enough is enough.

Yep, it's all outrageous that asking for ID may curtail the drinking of beer, or wine or whatever... Up until such time as someone who shouldn't have got that beer, wine or whatever gets hurt and that shop you're all so outraged at gets sued by that someone... Then the shopkeeper/clerk suddenly becomes unemployed, possibly goes to jail, etc... The stores, at least here in the States, are not required to sell to anyone. We can, and do, refuse service for any number of reasons, and that includes the possibility that minors will get ahold of it...

Yeah, it pisses people off...boy, does it... But hey, better that than a lawsuit, and losing my job. Or a dead someone... It's a judgement call. I'll err on the side of no sale every single time.

Originally posted by Symbiote
The British are cattle, IMO.

England is what America is to become

Thanks for that insight.

Surely if we were cattle, we wouldn't be up in arms about this. We'd just accept it, no?

reply to post by CRB86


Babes some are more ignorant than others, they think we just roll over and allow this to happen, obviously we do not. We are not sheeple, some might be but, more and more of us are awakening to the control the government is trying to have over us. And the UK Government does not like it.





[edit on 11-10-2009 by Laurauk]

The law in the UK states that Minors CAN buy alcohol for under 18's aslong as its purchased with edible foods and drinks are consumed in the home of said person who bought the Alcohol.

I know this because I have friends who are 17, and only on Saturday night another friend carrying Beer (over 20) was ID'd by police when we was together as a group and the Officer told us the legal law, none of us got into trouble as we werent drinking outside and we have worked in retail so know the rules.

pfft, so what. its happend to me. i just told them to go for a walk to the car. then they have to serve you (alcohol was for me)

[edit on 11-10-2009 by MR BOB]