Under age sales
Some products are age restricted. This means you must not sell them to people below a certain age.
If you sell age restricted products in Walsall you have a legal responsibility to understand the law around age restricted sales.
Trading Standards will visit premises if you request it, or in response to complaints or intelligence reports. We'll offer advice to help you comply with the law.
List of age restricted products
This table shows:
- age-restricted products
- how old someone must be to buy the product
- the highest penalty for selling to someone younger
|
Age restricted products |
Minimum age |
Maximum penalty |
|---|---|---|
|
Alcohol |
18 years |
An unlimited fine and potential for review of licence |
|
Cigarettes and tobacco |
18 years |
£2,500 |
|
Fireworks (including sparklers) |
18 years |
An unlimited fine and/or 6 months imprisonment |
|
Offensive weapons such as knives |
18 years |
An unlimited fine and/or 6 months imprisonment |
|
Butane gas cigarette lighter refills |
18 years |
An unlimited fine and/or 6 months imprisonment |
|
Solvents |
18 years |
An unlimited fine and/or 6 months imprisonment |
|
Tattoos |
18 years |
£1,000 |
|
Airguns and ammunition for airguns |
18 years |
An unlimited fine and/or 6 months imprisonment |
|
Other firearms and ammunition for those firearms |
17 years |
An unlimited fine and/or 6 months imprisonment |
|
Crossbows |
18 years |
An unlimited fine and/or 6 months imprisonment |
|
Aerosol paint |
16 years |
£2500 |
|
Party poppers, cracker snaps, novelty matches, serpents, caps and throwdowns |
16 years |
An unlimited fine and/or 6 months imprisonment |
|
Videos, DVDs, computer games, cinema films, etc |
12, 15, 18 years |
An unlimited fine and/or 6 months imprisonment |
|
Lottery tickets and scratch cards |
16 years |
An unlimited fine and/or 6 months imprisonment |
Who is responsible
If you sell age restricted products to someone younger than the minimum age, we will take action. There could be legal proceedings against the sales assistant and the business owner.
If you sell alcohol to a person under 18, legal action can be against the:
- designated premises supervisor
- premises licence holder
- personal licence holder
If you are a personal licence holder and get convicted, you may have your licence suspended or taken away.
We may also review your premises licence. This could mean putting more conditions on the licence, or taking away the licence.
Test purchasing of age-restricted goods
We carry out frequent test-purchasing using child volunteers. Volunteers will attempt to buy a variety of age restricted goods. Any breaking of the law may result in legal proceedings.
Proof of age
You should request some form of proof of age if you are not sure whether a customer is old enough to buy a product. We recommend that you only accept proof of age with a date of birth and a photograph, for example:
- passport
- photo driving licence
- proof of age card such as CitizenCard
These cards have a 'PASS' hologram to show they are part of an approved scheme. Follow the 'no card, no sale' principle. If someone cannot provide identification, you should not sell them the age restricted product. It is best practice to keep a record when you refuse a sale. You can use our example refusals register for this.
Download list
-
Age restricted sales refusals registerDownload PDF (211.3 KB)
We can provide:
- copies of our information booklet
- copies of the refusals register
- information to display in your shop telling people how to get a proof of age card
Contact us if you would like copies of these or further information on age restricted products and proof of age schemes.
Complaints about Walsall traders
If you suspect a Walsall trader is selling age restricted goods to minors, let us know by contacting us.
