Buying gin? Show us some ID … for your child

WHEN Jackie Chandler and her husband Gary approached the till at their local supermarket with a bottle of rhubarb craft gin, their intention was to pay up quickly and head to their friend’s party.

But instead of completing the simplest of purchases, they triggered a row that led to them threatened with a citizen’s arrest, escorted from the shop by police and vowing never to enter Lidl in Waterlooville again.

The problem? The fact that they’d gone to the shop with their two daughters, aged 11 and 14. Even though neither girl was involved in the purchase, their parents were asked for proof of age ID for their eldest, Ella-May.

Initially the couple, who both work in retail, wrongly thought the ID request was directed at them, explaining to the cashier that they ‘would never let her sip alcohol’.

But the cashier remained unmoved and matters got even further out of hand when Mr Sprake’s offer to buy the £11.99 bottle by himself at another till was rejected. A store manager soon became involved while one irate customer, who was marooned in the long queue behind the couple, even threatened them with a citizen’s arrest if they did not sort the matter quickly.

They did not, which prompted the manager to call police to escort the family out.

‘The police officer I spoke to couldn’t believe he’d been called out – we weren’t doing anything wrong,’ said Mrs Chandler, 41, who eventually departed without the gin, vowing never to return. Mr Sprake, 43, said he and his wife were ‘victims of stupidity’. He added: ‘Lidl should be ashamed of themselves. I wonder where the line is drawn. If I had a four-year-old, would I not be able to get a drink?’

A Lidl spokesman said: ‘Whilst these actions may appear over-cautious, we support our colleagues in using their own judgement to uphold our ‘‘Think 25’’ policy [asking for ID from anyone buying an agerestricted product who looks under 25]’.