Red tape campaigners criticise stores for ID checks on alcohol

Adults should be "free to stock up on drink without being treated like criminals" and should be able to go shopping without having to take their passport for fear of being challenged, says the Manifesto Club.

Retailers should scrap "absurd" policies such as "Challenge 25" or "Think 25" in favour of a more courteous and common sense approach to enforcing the legal age limit, it says.

The situation is likely to get worse next month as changes to the law mean retailers will have to ask any customer who appears to be under the age specified in their own policies for photographic identity, rather than just anyone who looks to be under the legal age of 18.

The new mandatory licensing condition "effectively turns supermarkets' already cautious policies into law", according to the organisation, which campaigns against the over-regulation of everyday life.

Plans to double the fine for retailers who persistently sell alcohol to children to 20,000 are "disproportionately harsh", it said.

The "unnecessary and patronising" blanket age-check policies reflect "a serious loss of perspective" as thousands of over-18s are being caught up in over-zealous policies that create the idea of alcohol as an illicit substance.

Dolan Cummings, author of the Manifesto Club report, said: "These adults are no longer young and feel that they have earned the right to be treated with some respect. It's not flattering, so supermarkets should stop telling us that it is.

"Constant ID checks create the idea of alcohol as an illicit substance, rather than as a normal part of adult life to be enjoyed in an adult manner."

The group's director Josie Appleton added: "Producing your passport should not be a routine part of the checkout procedure.

"There is little point in the Government abolishing ID cards while backing policies that mean we have to show ID whenever we go shopping."

Anecdotal evidence showed "Think 21" and "Think 25" policies have led to confusion over the legal age limit, with cashiers refusing sales to some people because they were under 25 but over 18, the report found.

In some cases, adults have been asked for identification while trying to buy alcohol with children present, while others have been asked for identification as they tried to buy Christmas crackers, chocolate cherry liqueurs and cough drops.

The report said age checks which treat everyone as children until they can prove otherwise "infantalise adults, undermining the traditional notion that once we reach a certain age we are fully autonomous and should be treated with due respect".

Treating all under-age drinking as a serious social problem also "ignores the fact that most people in Britain do have their first drink before the age of 18, and that this is no bad thing", it said.

The group added: "Restricting the supply of alcohol to under-age drinkers, while sensible up to a point, clearly does not address the circumstances that cause some teenagers to drink far too much, too young."

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The Government believes that regulation should only be used as a last resort, and that alternatives to regulation should be used wherever possible.

"We want to give people the chance to comment on the necessity, cost and impact of the provisions outlined in the Mandatory Code on Alcohol Sales. The Government is currently consulting on a range of proposals to tackle alcohol-related crime and is seeking views on the mandatory code. We welcome all contributions to the consultation, which will close on September 8."