It shows the absurd side of our society

One of the items was a bottle of rosé wine. The checkout attendant called a supervisor. The supervisor informed them they could not buy the wine without my daughter producing ID to prove she was over 18.

Furthermore, even though she could see my wife herself was over 18, my wife would also be prohibited from making the purchase for fear she was buying it for her daughter!

After they returned home and related what had happened to them, I returned to the store where the supervisor and duty manager reiterated their stance, it was company policy and it would have made no difference if my wife had returned to the store leaving our daughter outside, the result would have been the same!

This means if I now attempt to buy alcohol at Morrisons, Leominster, I will not be allowed to do so if I am seen by this supervisor in case I am purchasing it to take home for our ‘under-age’ daughter, who incidentally is a 25-year-old teacher.

Because of this obviously flawed policy, the unpleasant episode ruined what was turning out to be a very happy Mother’s Day for my wife, she was most upset and so embarrassed in front of other members of the public looking on.

This ridiculous policy has no discretionary areas, it’s so black and white, and once again shows how absurd British society has become.

This is particularly so as only the evening before, I was driving through Hereford at 7.30pm where I noticed a number of drunks staggering around the streets and ditto Leominster as I drove through the town at 8pm.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED.

A Morrisons spokesperson said: “Morrisons takes the responsibility for the sale of alcohol very seriously and implements age restrictions on these products in accordance with legal requirements.

“Morrisons operates a ‘Task 25’ policy which requires the store to request proof of age if they believe that the buyer of any age restricted product is under 25.

“We adhere to strict regulations regarding the sale of age restricted products such as alcohol for example to minors, which also prohibits stores from selling any of these products to adults who the stores believe intend to supply to minors.

“These rules are in place to protect our customers and their families, as well as the general public as a whole who, in the majority of cases, appreciate our vigilance in the sale of age restricted products.

“In this case, the store believed the daughter was under 25 and, as such, she was challenged at point of sale to provide her proof of age.

Unfortunately, the daughter could not provide this information. Had she done so, then the store would have had no issue in approving the sale.

“The store followed procedure in this case. However, we apologise if the customer felt the store was being over-zealous in applying these rules.”