Faking It

Last month industry watchdog the Portman Group announced that it would stop distributing its own proof-of-age cards.

It cited falling demand as the reason, saying the rise in other cards recognised by the national Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS) - such as CitizenCard, Validate and Young Scot - has led to the decline in demand for the Portman card.

For licensees, this goes to the heart of the problem they face in identifying whether a potential customer is underage. With so many different card schemes operating on a national or local basis, there is no easy way to tell which are legitimate.

Combine this with the widespread view in the trade that many teenagers now carry a fake ID, and it's not hard to see why the trade's confidence in the PASS scheme might be wavering.

Passing the test

Underage drinking is never far from the headlines - and was back on the front pages earlier this month when the Home Office announced the results of its latest test purchasing campaign.

Between May and July, nearly 9,000 test purchase operations were carried out, with the children sent into pubs and off-licences able to obtain alcohol in 14.7 per cent of cases.

Overall, 80 per cent of the outlets chosen were from the off-trade and of these 13.8 per cent 'failed' - in other word, sold alcohol to children. In the on-trade, the failure rate was 18.5 per cent - which adds up to around 200 pubs which were caught out by the test purchasers.

To find out how easy it is to get a fake ID, we pressganged Beth Porter, my 16-year-old daughter, into undertaking some investigative work.

Armed with a digital camera, a set of passport photographs and her dad's credit card, Beth spent a morning at The Publican's offices trawling the internet for sites which would provide her with an ID card saying she was 18.

"I didn't think it would be as easy as it was," said Beth. "I typed in the words 'fake ID' into Google, but I wasn't hopeful - I didn't think any sites would refer to their products as 'fake'.

"However, hundreds of sites appeared that were selling ID cards."

The going rate for a fake ID turns out to be about £10.

"For one site, all I had to do was type in my name, address and 'birth date' into an online order form, upload a picture and pay using a credit card. My fake I.D would be sent for next day delivery. I couldn't believe how simple it was.

"For two other ID cards I ordered, I had to send off an order form with a picture attached, but they still guaranteed next day delivery."

A range to choose from

All the sites allow the customer to pick the card design, and while there is clearly a big market for proof-of-age cards, they are far from the only type of fake IDs available.

Other cards available include official looking driving licences and national ID cards are featured heavily, and many sites also offer designs such as pilot's licences, and press cards - something which clearly raises wider security issues.

As far as underage drinking goes, Beth's three fake IDs arrived in the post over the next week. All featured the photo, date of birth and words such as 'proof of age' or an 18 symbol, along with a shiny hologram-style logo.

At this point, both publicans and politicians might be concerned to realise that no laws had been broken. Although payment was made and the cards dispatched to UK addresses, all the sites used carry carefully worded disclaimers.

These typically insist that the items sold "are novelties and have no official or other status," going on to warn users cards "should not be used to fraudulently misrepresent yourself to local or national officers."

Equally, there is nothing legally to stop a 16-year-old carrying around three cards, novelty or otherwise cards showing an incorrect date-of-birth.

However, it is illegal for someone under 18 to buy alcohol, but in the true spirit on investigative journalism we'll claim a public interest defence for the next part of our probe.

To the test

Closely shadowed by a responsible adult, namely her dad, Beth set out to try to buy alcohol in a local pub and off-licence.

Regrettably, the pub made no attempt to establish her age. However, that was probably something to do with the fact that the licensee had no intention whatsoever of serving a young lady who, as the pictures accompanying this feature probably illustrate, does not really look any older than her true age.

Having been sent away with a flea in her ear from the pub, it's sad to report that Beth was able to buy a couple of bottles of alcopops at a nearby off licence - without being asked to show any proof of age at all .

So, since neither establishment asked to see any ID, it's hard to say whether the fake cards are convincing or not. However, the large number of websites offering the cards suggests the size of the market, and the ease with which fake proof of age can be bought must be a matter of serious concern to the trade.

But just for the record, there are now three less cards out there to worry about - Beth's have been confiscated!