Avoid Embarrassing Shopping

Selling alcohol to minors is illegal. Is it illegal to sell it to a mom shopping with her schoolgirl daughter?

The exact case happened to Karen Dumelow and her 14 year old daughter Emily. The 46 year old mom chose 2 bottles of the finest wine for her partner. While waiting in the line to pay the groceries, the cashier at supermarket giant Tesco demanded to see Emily’s ID. Since she didn’t have it, the cashier told them that they couldn’t buy the wine.

“The checkout assistant asked Emily for ID and I just told her that obviously she didn't have any because she is only 14 years old”, Miss Dumelow said visibly stressed.

“I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was crazy. Do you have to leave your children at home if you want to buy alcohol now? “, she continued.

It’s their policy - wanting to prevent the consummation of alcohol at early age, they try to stop adults from buying alcohol and then giving it to minors.

Stubborn Miss Dumelow obviously needed wine badly. Her next move was to send her daughter to the car and buy it herself.

“The part that incensed me the most was that literally one minute later I bought the wine from the same till - it was unbelievable.”

All I had to do was send my daughter to the car and all of a sudden everything was OK”.

How can a teenager feel after this incident? Embarrassed. Emily wasn’t any different. Embarrassment wasn’t enough so her mother sent a two page letter complaining about the treatment.

Trying to keep up a good reputation, Tesco eventually apologized.

“We work hard to prevent under-age sales, including proxy sales where adults purchase alcohol for under-18s. However in this instance we got it wrong and sincerely apologize”.