Underage checks: Must do better

Manny is your typical 18-year-old, down to the slouching walk and the slightly-too-baggy trousers. But one thing sets him apart from his school friends - his job.

At night, he becomes an undercover operative, spot-checking pubs around London to make sure they are asking young customers for ID.

He tells me that being paid to have a drink is a "pretty cool" job. "My friends think it's great," he says. "They can't wait to turn 18 so they can do it too."

No surprises there then. But while Manny is gaining kudos at school, it's working out for his employers too. Since launching 18 months ago, audit company Serve Legal - brainchild of former Laurel chief executive Julian Sargeson and Wizard Inns' commercial director Ed Heaver - has grown to a nationwide network of 500 teens, making more than 1,000 visits a month. Clients include big-name pub companies as well as supermarkets and off-licences.

Teenage mystery visits are fast becoming big business. But why?

Government policies are partly responsible for the boom, says Charlie Mowat, a Serve Legal director who joins us on our pub crawl.

News of binge-drinking crackdowns and two-strikes-and-you're-out policies are rattling nerves. And arranging checks on your staff can be a way of protecting your licence.

"The Home Secretary is really helping business," he says. "In the current climate, retailers have to show they are taking responsibility."

And, according to company statistics, this is where the pub trade is falling short. Serve Legal's teenage testers were only asked for ID in 40 per cent of pubs visited over six months - compared with 60 per cent of off-trade outlets.

Dubious

I am dubious about these figures as we set off on our undercover operation. Only in January, a report was published showing teens were five times more likely to get booze from corner shops than pubs. And you just have to look at supermarket beer prices to see who has the better record when it comes to responsible retail.

But as the night wears on, it becomes depressingly clear that the pubs on our route are living up to the stats.

Only two out of five pass the ID test. Moreover, we are in London - one of the UK's better performing regions. In Northern Ireland and Wales, the record is far worse.

One night of checks is hardly conclusive and of course Manny is indeed 18. And, granted, most of the pubs we visit are managed outlets.

But anecdotes from Manny suggest the experience is typical. "I haven't been asked for ID by one barperson since I started doing visits," he says. "About half the time I get stopped by doorstaff but sometimes they aren't there or don't seem to care."

What's going wrong?

Charlie says the problem is down to a mixture of poor training and a British reluctance to cause offence by asking for ID. There is also a tendency to rely too heavily on bouncers, he says.

"People think doorstaff are the answer but you don't plug the gap that way. Underage drinkers are wily characters and they'll get in somehow. You've got to get your barstaff doing checking too," Charlie explains.

This view is borne out by our night on the town. Four out of five venues have bouncers but only two ask Manny for ID. In the other cases he nips past while they are distracted or they simply ignore him.

Another issue is that adults are very bad at guessing the ages of teenagers. In one Serve Legal experiment, barstaff were asked to estimate the age of a teenager in a photo. Answers ranged from 15 to 30.

The answer, says Charlie, is to err on the side of caution. "We have to create a culture where it is entirely normal to be asked for ID."

He points to America, where people as old as 30 regularly get checked and says Challenge 21 posters - now evident in many UK pubs - can help show customers they are not being unfairly targeted.

Training is also vital, he says. Simple things such as teaching barstaff to give customers "a proper look" can work wonders. And as we go from pub to pub with Manny it's clear many of the bartenders don't really look at him at all. Even checking ID has to be done carefully.

"At my school, it's very rare to find someone without a fake ID," says Manny. "People also use their brothers' and sisters' passports because they know pubs look more at the year than the photo."

It seems Serve Legal might be right about "wily" teenagers. But with so many other issues to worry about, why should the industry focus on this one?

That's simple, says Charlie. "This is within licensees' control. Everything else they're being hammered with isn't."