It can be difficult to tell if a teenager is old enough to buy alcohol or cigarettes or gain entry to premises, so the need for demanding and checking ID is understandable. After all, it is the licence of the premises that can ultimately be at stake and therefore the livelihood of staff.

But it is also important that those in charge of premises have proper procedures in place and adopt a common sense approach, otherwise a backlash from customers is inevitable.

Supermarket chain Tesco has been the prime candidate for criticism with its ludicrous demands at check-outs on clearly mature people.

And the case we highlight this week at Vue Cinema certainly does not appear to be up to a satisfactory standard and left a party of 17-year-old girls upset and angry that a birthday night out had been ruined by the refusal of entry to a certificate 15 movie after they had purchased tickets on the premises before going for a burger. The girls were later halted from entering the screening at the ticket check when two had no ID on them to verify they were over 15.

While Vue defends its action by stating it has to abide by film classification entry guidelines and has a policy of checking ID, the problem here appears to be how that operates in practice.

The cinema chain has scrapped its ticket kiosks where proof was often asked for and customers now stand in sometimes lengthy queues at food counters to buy tickets from staff who are often too harassed or inexperienced to cause further delays by asking for or checking ID.

On this occasion, had the girls been challenged at the ticket purchase stage, there was still time for a call to parents to resolve the matter.

The girls were given a refund - but that in no way made up for the birthday treat being ruined or the other worrying aspect of the situation that they could have been left kicking their heels for a couple of hours in the foyer or in sub-zero conditions outside waiting for the taxi that had been pre-booked to take them home. Fortunately, a parent could be contacted to pick them up.

It appears that a review of Vue's ticketing operation would be in order to prevent a repeat of this and perhaps they should put a bit more effort put into customer service and less emphasis on selling popcorn.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---