That's Action Desk's advice for this week as supermarkets launch their latest crackdown on selling Cigarettes and alcohol to those too young to buy them.
That's Action Desk's advice for this week as supermarkets launch their latest crackdown on selling Cigarettes and alcohol to those too young to buy them.
And one Blackpool man's story reveals it is all too easy to get caught out.
Neil Benfield, 28, from Hawthorn Road, North Shore, was shopping as usual at Asda on Cherry Tree Road, Marton, and bought More than ?150 worth of shopping – including a bottle of spirits and a case of alcopops at the checkout with no questions asked.
Cigarettes
But when he got to a kiosk to buy a packet of Cigarettes he was denied them after being asked for ID.
At 28, and by no means a babyface, Neil was taken aback and says he tried to reason with the cashier, explaining he had already bought alcohol and even showed a Visa card with his name on it - which you have to be 18 to get.
But despite taking his appeal as far as the shop manager, the supermarket refused to budge.
"It was absolutely farcical," he said.
"I even called the Asda head office and they said it sounded crazy.
"With the amount of alcohol abuse and under age drinking you would think that if anything they would be tighter on alcohol than Cigarettes.
"Their priorities were wrong and they couldn't admit they were at fault.
"It's alcohol they should be cracking down on and they should have just used common sense."
A spokeswoman for Asda defended the kiosk worker's right to check everyone for ID, however, saying the store prided itself on tackling underage drinking.
She said: "The store prides itself and is very diligent in trying to prevent underage sales of alcohol and Cigarettes.
"If one of our cashiers was caught selling to an under age person they would, themselves, face a fine under the law therefore our policy is to leave it up to the cashiers discretion.
"In this case the worker felt like she couldn't be sure without ID that the customer was the correct age.
"We understand that it was an unfortunate situation but we fully support our staff's right to ask for ID."
There have been stringent efforts to tig
hten checks on identification in recent years in a bid to curb problems with under age alcohol and cigarette sales.
Sales of alcohol to youngsters have been heavily related to high profile incidents of anti-social behaviour and crime.
But the tighter controls have led to some incidents with some examples of shopkeepers refusing to serve alcohol to pensioners who failed to provide proof of age.
In September supermarket staff from MorriSons in Merseyside refused to sell a white-haired 72-year-old man alcohol as he would not confirm he was over 21.
The firm, which has stores in South Shore and Thornton, says it does not mean to cause disrespect to older customers but would continue its strict ID policy.
For those who don't carry a driving license or passport ID, Blackpool Council runs a proof of age card scheme which are available free to people between the ages of 16 to 23.