'Outrageous' doorstaff blasted by PASS chief

Doorstaff have been slammed for humiliating young adults and potentially harming pub businesses by the chairman of the Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS).

Robert Humphreys said feedback received by PASS from people turned away from venues despite legitimately holding PASS cards suggests some doorstaff are behaving "outrageously".

He said: "It is unacceptable behaviour if you are 18 or 19 years old and you go out and you are humiliated in front of your mates - it is completely unbelievable.

"If I owned a club or a high-street bar and my doorstaff were behaving in that way I would be absolutely outraged and it is also completely counter-intuitive. They are turning away business."

He added that problems tended to be at venues where managers "left doorstaff to their own devices". In such cases, he said, they "can become a law unto themselves".

Humphreys praised companies such as Wetherspoons who have embraced the PASS card scheme but urged others to accept the identification, which is recognisable by the PASS hologram.

"A third of 18 and 19-year-olds do not have a passport or driving licence," he said.

"And many do not wish to take them out because of the expense and concerns about ID theft."

He added: "If 18 or 19-year-olds get turned away you have made an enemy for life

"All too often people are concentrating on keeping out the underage. The other side is making sure you are letting in the overage."

However Robert Buxton, assistant marketing director of the Security Industry Authority, said the responsibility of who enters venues is ultimately the licensee's.

He added: "Door supervisors have made huge strides in the last few years. We now have professionally trained and qualified doorstaff who are ambassadors for their venues."