Fake ID cards fuel underage drinking boom

A growing trade in fake ID cards is undermining the Government’s attempt to deal with under-age drinking, it was recently revealed by investigative journalists working for the Independent on Sunday.

More than a dozen companies based in the United Kingdom are offering children ID cards, which have the appearance of being authentic, as false proof that they are eighteen. The plastic cards, in the same format as recently issued driving licences, are so realistic that pubs, clubs and off-licences say that they are unable to tell the difference between genuine cards and fakes.

Richard Caborn, the government minister with responsibility in this field, denounced the behaviour of the companies as despicable and promised an investigation. Publicans are angry and want to see the firms concerned prosecuted for encouraging under-age drinking.

This all follows hard on the heels of an announcement by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, that more than half the pubs and a third of the offlicences investigated during the summer had sold alcohol to under-eighteens. Teenage drinkers are seen as the cause of much of the drunken violence in town centres.

John Grogan MP, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group, said: “It makes the Government’s alcohol strategy a bit of a joke. If you want a proof-of-age card you can get one very quickly.” One of the companies peddling the fakes, phidentity.com, said that it was not its fault if a pub or bar let someone in with one of its cards. Jon Buchan, a spokesman for phidentity.com said: “They are not replicas of genuine cards and have been made up from scratch. They are totally fictional, and do not attempt to resemble any existing cards. Any licensee accepting these cards is not doing their job.”

However, on Mr Buchan’s website, customers can buy a “European Identity Card” - a piece of plastic costing £10 which bearing both the European Union flag and the union flag, the cardholder’s photograph, date of birth, and signature. On the back of the card it states that this is an “identity card for travelling Europeans”. The website also says that the card has a “genuine/ secure holographic overlay”.

The website does say that “none of the statements on Phidentity cards are true.” Such disclaimers have anticipated action from trading standards officers and police who concede that the companies are not breaking any law. The head of North Yorkshire Trading Standards Special Investigations team, Ruth Taylor, who led an investigation into fake ID cards earlier this year, said: “It’s difficult to prosecute companies when they make it clear they are selling them for novelty purposes.”

Licensees called on the Government to take action and enact legislation to put these companies out of business. Tony Payne, the chief executive of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Association, said: “These companies should be prosecuted. They are helping and encouraging people to break the law ... it’s not our fault.”

The Government supports industry plans to introduce a proof-of-age standards scheme (Pass) to help licensees prevent under-18s being served. The scheme would place the onus of proving that they have thorough checks in place on any company offering proof-of-age cards. Card companies which pass the audit would have the Pass hologram logo on their card. Licensees hope to see the scheme in force by the end of next year.

In the period before that happens, pub, club and offlicence managers believe that the problem of fake ID cards will continue. James Lowman, a spokesman for the Association of Convenience Stores, which represents off-licences, said: “These cards undermine the faith retailers have in proof of age. They don’t know if it is valid or not.”