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3 September 2010 - 9:20am

Supermarket chain Morrisons has just been slammed over a too-vigorous pursuit of the rules on alcohol sales.
Jackie Slater – a Management Consultant – recently took her 17 year old daughter and 18 year old niece with her to help with the weekly shop. The checkout assistant asked to see her ID for the wine she had purchased. Being over 50, Jackie was somewhat shocked.
The assistant pointed to the two girls and said ‘Are they with you?’ Jackie explained that they were there to help her carry the bags. However the assistant took a different view. ‘You could be buying the wine for them. It’s the policy. I have to see everyone’s ID to make sure they’re all over 18’.
The store manager was then called and he refused to budge. And – worse – Morrison’s head office subsequently backed the store’s decision. A spokesman said ‘Under current licensing laws stores are unable to sell an alcoholic product to a customer they believe could be buying for a minor or for someone who is unable to prove their age’.
The Morrison’s assistant made it clear she would have sold wine to a mother who had younger children with her because ‘No-one would buy wine for a 12 year old’.
And it’s not just Morrison’s either. Asda recently apologised to customer Gill Power for saying her 14 year- old son was not allowed to help her carry shopping bags containing a bottle of wine.
Says Mrs. Slater’s MP ‘Refusing a mum a bottle of wine with the weekly shop because she has her 17 year old daughter with her is ridiculous. Morrison’s need to think again and this time do so with just a little common sense’.
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Source: The Times
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