Around six months ago there was a spate of press stories about pensioners being asked for their ID when buying a bottle of wine in their local supermarket. The supermarkets in question had a policy of blanket identification and, although anyone with common sense could tell that these customers were at least forty years over the legal age for buying alcohol, they were treated in the same way as a sixteen year-old. As a result, the supermarket looked ridiculous, insensitive and inefficient.
