Just say no, you can do it .

just say no to this company who trying to run our lives..
I did and have stopped shopping there..
Join the the growing thousands who are now saying NO Tesco.

Alan Tomlinson, MANCHESTER,

I may be wrong, but I thought it was ok for parents to give their children a small amount of alcohol in their own home, as long as their over a certain age?

Anne, Exeter, England

If you don't like being dictated to by a reatailer then don't shop there.

steve , street, IK

I bet if the man had £100 of other shopping and six beers the response would have been different.

Tony, Camberley, England

I was asked for ID for cigarettes in Waitrose, despite being 32 years old, 6 foot 5" tall, balding, going grey AND carrying beer I had already purchased at the main checkout with no questions asked! Who do these supermarkets think they are??

Bryan, Manchester, United Kingdom

I understand the pressure that has lead to this well-meaning but flawed policy, but it does emphasise the importance of not allowing any retailer to become too dominant in the marketplace. At the moment you can vote with your feet and shop elsewhere; but as other smaller retailers are forced out...

Adam, London, UK

Tha same happened to me this month at a branch of Tesco in Hove. I was doing my weekly food shopping (which included wine) with my 25 year old partner and was refused it because she didn't have i.d. I complained to the supervisor and wrote a letter to the store manager but to no avail. Tesco sucks!

Jules Thomas, Hove, UK

I had the same experience when i shopped with my boyfriend, we complained and sent a letter and we don't shop at Tesco.

Jinny, Hove, Uk

Walk out leave the children outside go back into another till problem solved!

Mark, Manchester,

To Laura from London; why is it ridiculous not to serve alcohol to people who cannot prove themselves to be over 18? If we are to decrease the number of teenage drinkers then some things must change, like the right to buy drink if accompanied by children, which is a good rule when you think about it

Richard Hayes, Manchester,

Shop elsewhere !

Benzo , Nr Chelmsford,

I've just been to Tescos in Leatherhead. My boyfriend (23) was picking a bottle of wine up for my parents, and I some wash-things. Cashier asked him for ID, which he had, then me, (21) but I didn't. She wouldn't serve us. We reasoned with two managers to no avail. So we went to Sainsbury's instead.

Verity Mackworth-Praed, Dorking, Surrey, England

I was asked for ID when purchasing some cigarettes from Tesco recently.... Despite being 32, 6ft 5", unfortunatly going grey and bald AND carrying alcohol which they'd already sold me at another counter! Has the World gone mad???

Bry, Manchester, United Kingdom

Tesco may argue they are promoting responsible drinking, but this clearly didnt apply on the day of the Rangers game in Manchester when they piled boxes of discounted alcohol at the entrance from 6am! Do they expect a responsible parent to leave their kid at home when shopping? How ridiculous!

Sarah, Manchester,

I wish that story was told in fiction 10 years ago.

Laurence, Paris, France

At the risk of both personal, and corporate fines, one cannot really blame Tesco for taking a slightly more hard-line stance than other supermarkets.
The bigger question is why corporate institutions are being required to, by implication, help enforce and educate the public...

Peter Jenkins, Coventry, UK

I was doing the weekly shop in Tesco and the cashier asked me for ID for 4 cans of beer I had none on me (I am 30 and don't tend to carry ID). My partner showed hers and she was told that it made no difference as she could just give the beer to me. I found it very flattering to have been asked.

Joe, Gloucester,

So according to Tesco's new policy it is OK to leave your children at home whilst you go shopping!

Phill, Brive, France

Simple - Vote with your feet. Shop elsewhere. Tesco deserves ti wither & die.

Richard, Bucharest,

Blame modern law not the usual whipping-boy, Tesco.
When the law changed most off-licences went out of business due to competition from supermarkets.
Alcohol off-sales should only go through dedicated tills, not camouflaged amidst grocery shopping; then responsibility could be properly placed.

MikeM, St. Albans, England

The ultimate in nanny state politics.

Steve, Perth, Australia

Britain 2018. The man will have been bundled into a van by armed TESCO security team for mandatory "correctional" treatment to stop him being unreasonable.

ian, aberdeen, uk

I've worked at tesco and teenagers do ask adults to buy alcohol for them. It's not a question of parental responsibility at all, as the adults aren't always their parents; it's more about enforcing laws to stop young people binge drinking.
I doubt there would have been a problem had the girl been 3

Lucy, Somerset, England

Britain 2008. What a joke and what a totally ridiculous reply from Tesco. If you had told this story in fiction even 10 years ago people would have thought you were crazy. What on earth has happened to basic common sense??

Chris, Aberdeen, UK

The key message here is from the Tesco spokesman "any reasonable parent would understand the problem and support our policy". So if I choose to disagree with Tesco policy I am "unreasonable" Big Brother epitomised. One more reason not to shop at Tesco.

Chris, Aberdeen, UK

So are single parents who have no choice but to take their children with them when they do the weekly shop not to be allowed to buy alcohol?

Vanessa Potts, Shrewsbury,

Drinking at home with parental consent is perfectly legal and, if the Continental model is anything to go by, by far the most effective way to teach a young adult about drinking responsibility.
If Tesco tried that with me I'd just leave the whole trolley at the till & go elsewhere to shop. Hmmmmm

Bill, Ramsey,

Beat me to it Mikey :)

Neil W, Redruth, Cornwall, UK

Does Tesco also refuse to home-deliver alchohol if there are kids in the house? Ludicrous.

Mike Power, Aberdeen, Scotland

As Ben from Carlisle says, if drunk in the privacy of your own home, you can give your children alcohol from age 5. Also, if the guy was buying for underage drinkers, then surely said young persons would be waiting outside and not at the counter with him?

David, London, England

Tesco's and the like have spent many years garnering the image that shopping is not in fact a chore, but a family day out! Now though, despite them encouraging and making it easier to bring children, it seems that this carefully manipulated image will result in people being unable to buy alcahol.

Pete, St Albans, England

Legal drinking ages for the UK:

5 (On private property, with parental consent),
16 (Beer/Wine/Cider in Pub/Restaurant if served with a meal and an adult orders it), Otherwise 18

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_age

So who are they to stop him from legally purchasing it?

Luke, Scarborough,

Important information hasn't been highlighted in this story. A pretty significant fine (not sure exact figure but hundreds of pounds)is imposed on the individual cashier if they infringe the rules. If I was said cashier I certainly wouldn't take any risk no matter how inconvenient to the customer!

Kevin, Norwich, England

I was gobsmacked to be refused alcohol in Waitrose in Chichester the other day because I had no ID. I am 37.

AJ, Oxford, UK

This is all going too far; since when has this been part of the rules? One time I went to ASDA with a friend who had just turned 18 to buy a bottle of wine, she produced her ID for the woman who refused to sell it to her... because she couldn't work out that her date of birth meant she was over 18.

Amy, Canterbury,

This is ridiculous!
The law states that you must be 18yrs or older to purchase alcohol. It's as simple as that, there is no part of it that states you cannot buy alcohol whilst accompanied by a minor.
Even if he did give it to his daughter, it's still nothing to do with Tesco as he purchased it.

rob, Reading,

It's a shame to hear this madness has spread to the UK. This happens here in Boston all the time.
On a trip to a bar in the US, the bar refused to accept a US passport as a valid form of ID, despite accepting a Peruvian ID and a Canadian ID, amongst others! Whatever happened to common sense.

Joe Brooks, Boston, US

Last year Tesco refused to sell me a bottle of wine as I couldn't prove my age. My partner showed his ID and asked if he could buy it instead, but they refused on the basis he would only be giving it to me. We are both 32!

Emma, London,

THis is stupid though. A father shopping with his family should not be refused a sale like that. The cashier should have had no common sense. Then again, they do work in Tesco, implying they had no common sense in the first place...

dr_cubis, Chester,

Why are people blaming Tesco for this? Tesco have been fined and vilified for underage sales. Their management don’t want this, but for all the training they can give it is down to the individual operator who makes a snap decision. This draconian policy is the direct result of this.

Richard Brown, Reading,

I had no idea Budweiser contained alcohol.

Chris Long, Thirsk, England

I am sympathetic with the cashier. I have worked in an off-licence for the past 18 years, and there have been many instances where a minor has asked an adult outside of the shop to purchase alcohol for them. The shop has a lot to loose, the customer does not.

Anand Patel, Cambridge, UK

does Tesco think it would be better if the man had left his daughter standing outside the shop at risk of God only knows what? Honestly, i don't think a shop should have *that* much power over what its customers buy.
Perhaps Tesco should install 'child racks' outside its stores!

Marco, KrakOw, Poland

i have experienced this shopping with my mother and my sister. at the time i was 21, and my sister was 18, but neither of us had any ID, so the assistant refused to put the rest of our shopping through [including our ONE bottle of white wine] until our mother came back. utterly utterly ridiculous.

Laura, London, UK

I think that the threat of fining individuals & the retail outlet for selling alcohol to the underage can drive them to make unjust decisions. Perhaps a way to stop underage children is to put a fine on the parents who are unable to bring up there children with a responisible attitude to alcohol

Chloe Parker, St Mary's Island, England

I've been buying bottles of wine with my 5 year old in tow at Tescos. Strangely, although my little companion is certainly under the legal drinking limit, I was never refused. After reading this article, I'm surprised Tesco didn't assume that I'd be sharing the bottle with my son when we got home.

Clara, Dorchester,

I assume this is not a nationwide policy - I was in Tesco the other day and saw many cashiers selling alcohol to people with children aged around ten and under. TEN! It could have been for the 3-year old! [/sarcasm]

Parents can't just lock their kids in the car... Tesco would report them...

Lucy Manns, Manchester, UK

What a shame Tesco in Manchester didn't refuse to sell alcohol to the Rangers 'fans' yesterday!

David, Cheshire,

What ridiculous nonsense. Tesco would not mind if the man had left his daughter at home! He could bring back his shopping and she might drink all six cans for all they would know. I am going off Tesco very, very, very quickly. There are other places to shop.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

Tesco would do well to stop anyone buying Budweiser!

Charlie, Munich,

Whilst i agree, in principle with Tesco's over this issue. I does, once again raise the issue of who's job it is to raise our children. I do not encourage my children to drink but i know there are plenty of parents out there that do not have a problem with it. Surely that is their choice not Tesco's

Kelly Thompson, London, UK

Tesco's double standards are breath taking. They were quite happy to sell entire cases of beer to individual Rangers fans yesterday morning in Manchester.
I suppose when healthy profits come into it they don't really care who buys.

Nikki, Manchester,

Will they refuse to sell alcohol to anyone who goes shopping and takes their children with them, just in case. Perhaps they should consider extending this policy to cigarettes, just in case!

JJPinglos, Gloucester,

Mr Zenden, who has worked as a spiritualist medium for 25 years, should have seen this coming really - shouldn't he?

Mikey, Bromley, Kent

Yet another example of a big brother "We know best" situation. How much longer will British people put up with this nonsense and take care of their own lives? Isn't that, that our parents and grand parents fought two world wars for?. Only to be taken over and controlled by the enemy within?.

Andy, York, England

Firstly, what would it matter if he did give some of the beer to his daughter. The legal age of drink with parental consent is still as far as I'm aware 5.
It is ridiculous to refuse someone service because of that. I understand Tesco's policy, but it needs some serious reconsideration.

Ben Gulick, carlisle,