Alcohol angst

IT is clearly irritating for people who are clearly over the age of 18 years to be asked to provide identification routinely when purchasing alcohol. They feel that they are being wrongly branded as criminals.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st Sep 2010, 23:32 BST
Updated 1st Sep 2010, 23:33 BST

However, the fact that supermarkets, and others, are making such checks shows that the retail industry is – belatedly – coming to terms with under-age drinking.

These checks may not be needed if successive governments, and others, had been more proactive in implementing effective remedies when "binge drinking" started to become endemic.

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The consequence is a generation of young people who believe that it is their right to ignore the law – and inconvenience for innocent people when asked to provide ID documents.

What needs to happen is for the licensed premises concerned to use some tact and diplomacy – and not subject customers to this rigmarole when they are clearly over 18 years of age.

Equally, people asked for ID checks need to be more tolerant. For they

will be the first to complain if they discover, at some stage in their future, that their children have been purchasing alcohol while under-age. In short, everyone has a role to play in curtailing this social menace.