FAKE ID CARDS FUEL UNDERAGE BINGE DRINKING
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| According to this card, Sam Smith's 12-year-old
son is 18 | Underage binge drinking in the UK is an escalating
and well documented problem, but the rise in fake identity cards sold legally
on the internet, is only helping fuel the dilemma. Inside Out meets
binge drinkers as young as 14 who are using fake ID cards to buy alcohol. "Most
people our age drink and you drink to fit in and then it becomes a habit and the
normal thing to do," says one 14-year-old. A park in Exeter and at
first glance, all appears normal. A group of 13 and 14-year olds are in high spirits,
larking about. But as high spirits begin to spiral out of control, a closer
inspection reveals many of the children are not sipping fizzy drinks, but alcohol,
and in some cases hard spirits such as vodka. During the course of the evening,
two of the children - a 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, drink themselves
to the point of collapse and are taken to hospital by ambulance.
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| Children as young as 13 are drinking strong spirits |
It's a shocking scene and one that presenter Sam Smith, whose son is
only a year younger than some of these kids, finds extremely distressing. "I
was really shocked and upset by the state these children got themselves into,"
she says. "I couldn't believe how they got hold of alcohol in the first
place. I soon realised that these fake ID cards were one of the reasons it is
so simple." Faking itSeveral children in the group admit to
having fake ID cards purchased over the internet. One 14-year-old girl claims
she uses it every day to buy alcohol and cigarettes.
| "I was really shocked and upset by the state these children
got themselves into." | | Inside Out presenter,
Sam Smith | The cards are both convincing and readily available
to web savvy teens. To discover just how easy it is to obtain ID cards,
Sam asks her 12-year-old son George, to apply online. It takes George less
than two minutes to fill in the application form online, selecting a fake date
of birth to increase his age from 12 to 18. He then sends a passport photo,
£10 and the card arrives two days later - no questions asked. The
website boasts that one of its fake cards is more successful than the "Prove
It" card - the official ID card of the alcohol industry. Inside Out
puts this disturbing claim to the test.
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| Susannah puts the fake ID cards to the test | Put
to the testSusannah Owen is a young-looking 18-year-old who, armed with
a fake ID card purchased over the internet, attempts to buy alcohol in eight different
shops. Three out of the eight stores challenge her to prove her age - but
they all accept the fake card as genuine. Plymouth Co-Op supermarket store
manager Zoe Hammett, explains that the member of staff correctly asked for proof
of age from Susannah, but was fooled by the fake ID which she produced. "Your
investigation is a real eye-opener," says Co-Op Corporate Relations Officer,
Paula Meagor. "These cards are worryingly convincing and we are now
retraining our staff in how to spot them."
| The Facts | | The
average amount of alcohol drunk by 11-15-year-olds in 1990 was 0.8 units per week.
This rose to 1.6 units in 1998. In 2002, 18% of 11-15-year-olds drank at
least once a week. Fifty six percent of 15-16-years-olds admit to having
drunk more than five units on a single occasion. Statistics show that by
the age of 13, young people who drink outnumber those who don't drink. Studies
suggest that young people combine alcohol and sex and that there is a link between
drinking before sexual activity and unsafe sex. Sixteen percent of school
attendees, who had committed crime, stated they had been under the influence of
drink when committing the crime. Source: Alcohol Concern | Loophole
in the lawThe manufactures of these cards may be offering underage teenagers
the opportunity to buy alcohol and are a cause of great concern to retailers,
but they are not in fact, breaking the law. Whilst it is illegal to use
a fake ID card fraudulently, incredibly, it is not illegal to make and sell them. Inside
Out tracks down the operators of one website selling ID cards, Sumo Monkey Ltd,
based in Macclesfield. The website manager Ryan Stanley tells Inside Out
that illegal use of what he terms, "novelty cards", can happen, but
that the firm is not going to stop selling them. The government insist that
the introduction of the proposed national ID cards would provide a secure system
for retailers to verify age. Until the production and selling of fake IDs
is made illegal however, a bottle of alcohol and the consequences of a night of
underage binge drinking is sadly only a couple of mouse clicks away. | 
Inside
Out Extra: Monday March 21, 2005