33-year old man refused alcohol sale by Tesco for lack of ID
A 33-year old man was refused by Tesco to purchase a bottle of wine after failing to produce his ID to prove his age, reports the Daily Mail.
The overzealous Tesco employee told Jason Wilde that he would not be allowed to buy the rose wine he had selected because he did not have the proper ID with him. When Mr Wilde’s fiance, 29, stepped in to show her ID, she too was refused.
According to the Daily Mail, the couple was shopping at a Tesco that Mr Wilde frequents weekly for the past five years when, upon checking out with numerous items, he was asked to show ID. After leaving the Bar Hill store with everything in their trolley but the wine, Mr Wilde called the experience humiliating.
The incident, which occurred last Monday, is being chalked up to increasingly strict penalties to retailers who sell alcohol to minors. In fact, when Mr Wilde’s fiance offered to purchase the wine on her ID, she was refused on the grounds she might be purchasing for a minor.
Tesco introduced new guidelines in 2009 to avoid fees from staff selling to underage customers. The new guidelines call for cashiers to card anyone they deem ‘looks’ under 25. Additionally, the guidelines instruct staff to ‘err on the cautious side’. Employees can face a £80 fine if caught selling to minors.
However, the Bar Hill store had a similar incident when it was accused by a father of being patronising when he was refused entry because his six year old daughter sat atop his shoulders. According to the security guard, the man was stopped for safety reasons.