Website and telephone payments Sunday 19 May
Our website and telephone payment systems are unavailable between 9am and 2pm on Sunday 19 May. You will not be able to pay for any council services on our website or over the phone during this time.
Laws restrict young people's access to certain products to protect their health and wellbeing.
Always ask for photo ID. If you are in any doubt about a customer's age, you should refuse the sale. Make sure staff have clear, written instructions about your policy and display signs telling them what ages apply to which products. You may also want to keep a refusals book noting each time a sale is declined. Further advice can be found on the Trading Standards Institute and Talking Retail websites.
Here is a list of products and the age restriction that applies:
Trading standards provides advice to traders and takes action to deal with underage sales.
We support the Challenge 21 scheme, which aims to help retailers and licensees check the age of anyone buying age restricted products who look under 21. As it is often difficult to judge age, if buyers of age restricted products appear to be under 21 they will be asked to prove that they are the required age. The scheme does not suggest that you must be 21 to buy the products.
Retailers are also being warned about the growing number of fake ID cards and are being asked to remind staff to look at the potential buyer before making a sale, checking how the individual looks, their manner and demeanour, all of which are indications of their age. If in doubt, retailers should ask for ID. Acceptable forms of proof of age are:
If you are a retailer or licensee and would like advice on the sale of age-restricted products, contact our business advice team.