In the latest incident of backside-covering supermarket hysteria, a disabled shopper was forced by Tesco to carry a bag containing wine with his teeth because he had his sixteen-year-old daughter with him. At least in this case Tesco did apologise and said “We know there will be plenty of times when adults will have under-18s with them when buying alcohol and this remains perfectly legal,” which is very welcome. But surely supermarkets have to recognise that it is one thing to expect staff to ID purchasers of alcohol who may appear underage, but something else entirely to expect them to make a judgment as to whether the person with ID is buying alcohol for other members of the group who don’t. Anyone who was intent on buying alcohol on behalf of underage drinkers would in any case have the common sense to ensure they stayed outside the shop while negotiating the till.
And it baffles me why people are prepared to suffer such indignities rather than just abandoning their shopping at the checkout and walking out. Are we a nation of sheep?