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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

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

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