Tesco staff refuse to let 40-year- old mother buy beer - because she looked too young

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 13:39 EST, 3 January 2009

A 40-year-old mother was stunned when Tesco staff refused to let her buy beer - insisting she was too young.

Despite her best efforts, youthful Karen Hamilton could not convince supermarket workers she was older than 18, the legal age for purchasing alcohol.

Maintaining she was a teenager, staff asked for identification before they would let the shocked mother-of-two take a 24-can pack of lager home.

But, having never before been asked to prove her age, Mrs Hamilton could not produce any identification with a photograph and date of birth.

Exasperated Mrs Hamilton had to return home to pick up her passport before she was allowed to buy the beer from the Tesco store in Chineham, near Basingstoke.

Tesco today apologised for the mix-up and suggested she should consider it 'a huge compliment'.

Today the fresh-faced mum said: 'People have always said I look young for my age - most people think I'm in my early 30s.

'I think it's because I don't plaster on make up - it seems to make me look younger.

'I don't deliberately do anything to look young - I just live a normal, healthy life.

'It's really flattering to be told I look young for my age but I've never been told I look younger than 18.' 

Mrs Hamilton, who has a 10-year-old son, Daniel, and a daughter Jessica, seven, was surprised when she was asked for ID for the beer.

She said: 'The woman at the check-out must have been about my age but she insisted on asking for ID - I thought she was joking.

'It became very irritating because I couldn't convince her otherwise - other women in the queue even tried to argue for my case by saying they thought I looked over 18.

'They even offered to buy me the alcohol but the check-in assistant refused, saying they would be buying alcohol for a minor - hearing that was so funny.' 

Two weeks previously Mrs Hamilton had been stopped in the same store while trying to buy alcohol but was let off without having to show identification.

She said: 'It was a young lad and he just asked me if I was old enough to buy alcohol - we both just laughed.

'He didn't ask to see my ID and I just took it as a big compliment.' But Mrs Hamilton, who is currently studying to become a teacher at the University of Winchester, was not so lucky the second time.

Alcohol on the shelves at Tesco, which operates a strict 'Think 21' policy

She tried to use her student ID, which had a photograph and date of birth on, but that was refused.

She said: 'I was told that anyone can fake a student ID but who would want to pretend they are 40 years old if they are 20 something?'  A flustered Mrs Hamilton also tried to present the shop assistant with her driving licence but that was also refused because the old-style paper licence did not have her photograph on it.

She said: 'In the end I had to go home to pick up my passport. When I told my husband, Ian what had happened when I got home he just laughed.

'Ian is just two years older than me and now all his friends rib him about having a wife who is half his age.

'A lot of my friends and family found it really amusing and when we go out to the pub they ask me if I'm old enough to drink.' The shopping trip, which should have taken 20 minutes, took Mrs Hamilton two hours to complete.

She said: 'I've lived in Chineham for 15 years and I've probably been shopping in the store for that long - I've never been asked to produce I.D. for alcohol before.

'I understand that they have to be careful but I could not understand why they could not say they had made a mistake.

'It hasn't happened again since but I think I'm going to have to carry my passport around with me from now on just in case.'

Tesco says it operates a Think 21 policy for purchases of alcohol where anyone looking under 21 has to prove they are 18 or over.

David Nieberg, spokesman for Tesco, said the company does not accept student cards as a form of identification.

He added: 'All I can do is to apologise. The cashier suspected she was underage and she should take it as a huge compliment.'