“It’s addicting!”

Claire Birchell, 25, was told she could not buy the Jack Daniel’s barbecue sauce which has an alcohol content of 2 per cent. Staff at the store in in Flitwick, near Bedford also refused to sell the bottle to her brother-in-law, Philip Dover, 27, who did have ID, because they believed he would just give the bottle to Miss Birchell. She was visiting her parents in Flitwick at the time and wanted to buy the sauce because shops near her home in Liverpool didn’t stock it.

Mr Dover said: ‘We just could not believe it. It’s not as if we were going to go and sit down the park drinking it. ” A spokesman for Tesco said “Our staff are incredibly vigilant when it comes to the sale of alcohol. Last month Tesco stopped selling alcohol to parents with their children in case they passed it on to the youngsters. The supermarket chain defended the policy, saying it wanted staff to “err on the side of caution.” The Government has imposed tougher penalties on selling alcohol to minors and stores caught selling to under-18s three times in three months face fines of £10,000.

Probably saved her from getting a BWI (Barbecueing While Intoxicated).




  1. Brad Bishop says:

    If it just saves one child then isn’t it worth it?

  2. Improbus says:

    If we ever meet an alien civilization our major export will be Stoopid. [shakes head]

  3. almerica says:

    I don’t see what the big deal is. They wanted ID because it has alcohol. If she is 25, why not just show the ID. What the store is asking for is not unreasonable.

  4. GigG says:

    What’s the law in the UK on the sale of alcohol. If 2% or less is the tipping point then they are just following the law.

  5. Eric says:

    Refusing to sell her the BBQ sauce because she didn’t have ID is a little over the edge, but could be thought of as remotely reasonable. Refusing to sell the brother the sole same bottle after the brother actually produced ID because there’s the chance that he’d just hand over the bottle is what sends this story far into the realm of the absurd.

  6. Akyan says:

    Tesco’s did absolutely nothing wrong here, they simply followed the law. Once they ask for ID they are not allowed to sell the product to the customer if they can’t present suitable ID.

    Additionally they can’t sell the product to anyone they believe might give the product to someone they suspect is underage.

    It might seem rediclious, but they were acting quite correctly legally.

  7. tcc3 says:

    I suppose she cant buy scope or vanilla extract either.

  8. pooFinger says:

    yeah, don’t blame the cashier on this one. I used to work at Kroger, we could not sell non-alcoholic beer without ID. Never questioned it too far as I never saw anyone ever buy non-alcoholic beer.

  9. Grey says:

    If the BBQ sauce is age restricted, then there is probably a fine associated to the selling of it to minors, similar to cigarettes or alcohol.

    If the clerks thought she may be under their ID policy age (which is usually from 25-30) and she could not produce it, they are supposed to refuse the sale.

    Selling it to her brother so he can give it to her is conisedered to be a “second party sale”, and would make both him and the clerk subject to fines. I don’t know what the fine is in the UK, but in Canada it’s $10,000+, for the first offense.

  10. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    The linked article says the store found an error in judgment on the part of the clerk.

  11. Dave W says:

    Another casualty in the War on Drugs.

  12. Future Sounds of America says:

    I’m sorry, this is NOT just some ‘thats the policy’ issue. This is insane. Like our ‘war on drugs’ this is not based on any logic. You can NOT get drunk off BBQ sauce! That’s such a low amount of alcohol you’d have to drink a gallon of it to start to have any effect, by which time you’d have passed out and thrown up from the sugars and chemicals anyway. Same with the vanilla extract and other tinctures.

    These kind of zero tolerance laws are usually without ANY rational scientific common sense backing. If alcohol is bad, we MUST ban BBQ sauce that has it as a flavoring! NUTS! CRAZY! USE YOUR DAMN BRAINS AND THINK FOR A SECOND!

  13. Teclo says:

    I’m not sure what the Tesco policy is, but more supermarkets here in the UK are moving to a “Challenge 25” policy. Asking for people they believe to be 25 or younger to provide ID while buying alcohol.

    I agree with this as there appear to be less drunk 12-13 year olds roaming the streets these days.

  14. chuck says:

    That’s why I drink anti-freeze mixed with a little Scope (for flavor) – no ID check.

  15. Ron Larson says:

    If the government considers this products to have enough alcohol to be considered an age restricted product, then the store is just following the law. Blame the stupid government for a stupid law.

  16. chris says:

    Most people that end up as addicts start with a piece of bbq chicken, or somewhat less often, a slab of ribs. We can’t just look the other way and pretend this isn’t a problem.

  17. hhopper says:

    Damn, I guess that means that BubbaRay’s an alcoholic!

  18. ECA says:

    http://www.slowburning.com/store/barbecue.html
    go down the page.. You will find it..

    By this listing ITS NOT 2%…
    And at that PRICE, I’d get the kid a 5th..

  19. lou says:

    Jack BBQ sauce shooters. Yes !!!

  20. Shift.wav says:

    @19

    I’m pretty sure POOF is a play on words. If a bottle of barbecue sauce had that much alcohol in it, it would no longer be barbecue sauce; it would just be alcohol.

  21. hANOVER fIST says:

    Ehh…doesn’t alcohol burn away on a barbecue?

    This tool at the store was probably once a TSA goon…

    Someone should make him chug that crap, then give him a sobriety test.

    If he fails, HE IS NO LONGER AUTHORIZED TO BE ABLE TO SELL IT.

    Schmendrick.

  22. GaryK says:

    The Tesco apologists who are commenting here are way off. It was BBQ Sauce people, no one gets drunk from BBQ Sauce! The cashier/clerk should have sold the product to the one with i.d. end of story.

  23. law this law that says:

    All those in the “law and order” crowd, let’s get together for a few drinks. I’ll have 6% beer, you’ll have 2% bottles of barbeque sauce. Prost!

  24. ECA says:

    21,
    I think its the JD bottle they used..

  25. Dennis says:

    Like most stores, Tesco has a policy of not selling age-restricted goods without ID.

    The kid on the checkout didn’t know if 2% barbecue sauce counted as an alcoholic product, so, stoopid as it sounds, he/she did the right thing in refusing the sale.

    Liqueur chocolates, by the way, can’t be sold to under 18’s, although they probably contain less alcohol than some cold remedies.

  26. lmj3325 says:

    This just proves (once agagin) that “common sense” is not that common.

  27. We Card for Comments says:

    For those of you too stupid or uncoordinated to click through to the original article:

    “However in this case it appears that there has been an error of judgement. We apologise for any upset caused.”

    Do any of you trying to justify Tesco’s behavior feel the slightest bit of embarassment over trying to justify something the company has repudiated?

    And, really, does it matter to anyone but the Aspies whether this is about Tesco or the government? It’s a sign of the times, an indicator of the zeitgeist. Neo-prohibitionism is the enemy. Under pressure from crazy religionists and Mothers against the Scent of Ethanol, governments and their corporate minions are taking the war on alcohol to levels of slack-jawed idiocy normally reserved for Dvorak Unleashed comment sections.

    Really, try not to lower the collective IQ of the universe when you start typing.


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