I.D. Questioned

Pazaz 21

Has anyone ever got their official Licence / Age Card not accepted when trying to get served ?

My mate was at Slane last year, just turned 18. He goes up to one of the beer tents, asks for a pint and shows the guy behind the bar his driving licence, prefectly legal and above board. The barman looks at it and tells him its a fake, something about the line not going directly through the letters telling you what kind of licence you have, what sort of car you can drive, etc. My mate obviously disputes this, so the barman said, "Go find me a garda and prove that its not a fake and then i'll serve ya".
So my mate goes out, finds a garda and explains his predicament to him, the garda, being very sound, goes up to the barman with my mate and tells him that the licence is perfectly legal and to serve my mate his pint. The barman then proceeds to tell the garda that the licence IS A FAKE !!! The garda told him to cop on and serve my mate his pint, which he did.

The pint was rubbish but the look on the barmans face was priceless !!!

Anybody else have to deal with this kind of rubbish ?

Ri_Nollaig

im surprised the garda did that fair play to him

Wertz

Never in this country but I had a guy in the US reaching for either his panic button or a gun after he refused to serve me a 12 pk of bottles, claiming my passport wasn't good enough for ID purposes.
I proceeded to show him my US visa, showing him the age (25) and asked him to serve me again.
"Step away from the counter please sir"
"Oh for f*ck sake....just serve me the beer"
*glances under the counter and starts reaching*

I went off outside to where my mate was in the car....give him the cash, he goes inside and buys the beer, showing his state ID which he acquired using an Irish passport.
I opened a bottle wound down the window and saluted the shop assistant...silly yanks.

plonk

A couple of times in galway my mates showed bounvers at places age cards and they told him theyn didnt take them and to bring his passport next time

afatbollix

in a offie in my local town they wont accept anything except the garda ID.. so in i went with my full drivers liance and my passport... and they wouldent serve me... said the gards told them not to take passports or drivers liances.. then even came out with you have to get the gards to sign your drivers liance to make it real or something... so off we went to the cop shop to bitch about the offie and they said that they are fine and they dont have to write on them.....

still wont serve me tho.... ****..

Rb

My old passport which I used up until I had to renew it recently used to get me questioned quite a bit, apparently I didn't look like the guy in the photo and got a few "That couldn't be you" etc. kind of comments from doormen. They never refused me though, if anything the passport created a bit of banter between myself and the club security which has always been a good thing.

Basq

I've an age card which was issued to me shortly before they started laminating them. I'm now almost 23 so almost 5 years in the wallet didn't do it any justice, it's been scratched very badly.

But i do look very young.. so whenever i do get asked for ID and show it - a couple of smart-arse bouncers say "no.. that's not you.." or "you look different" to which i'm replying in my mind .. "you think, the photo WAS taken 5 years ago dickhead!"

And then (no offence to any bouncers on Boards) but i'm convinced to be a bouncer.. one of the requirements is a wordly knowledge of starsigns. The first question asked if it's a suspicion of a fake is either: "What starsign are you?". Or the even trickier.. "what year were you born?" / "what age are you?"

Could get my age card re-issued but typically have my provisional license with me now on nights out.. easier!

Rb

That "what starsign are you" question caught a whole load of people out back in the day!Then people wised up and started learning the starsign of their fake IDs...
I'm sure it still catches some people off guard though.

aidan24326

Gone a bit past the need for id myself, but I've seen this kind of crap a few times. Most bouncers in Dublin seem to be of the neanderthal variety, and can't really be reasoned with. It's baffling that places are allowed to get away with refusing passport as a valid id. It is the number one form of id to carry anywhere in the world, and yet some d1ckhead nightclub guy thinks it's not good enough for his exclusive premises. When you get crap like this at a pub/club, you're best taking your custom elsewhere.

robinph

There are some advantages to being old and balding then I guess.

Pazaz 21

I have a Garda ID i got when i was 18 but looked like i was 16, had a short, tight hair cut. Now i am 21 and have long hair, still get away with it, but keep thinking that someone is going to refuse me with the old "This picture dosn't look anything like you", line.

jezza

Yeah they don't accept driving licences in a lot of places. There is lots and lots of great fake ones about (provisional) so they are pretty wary.
Thats the only form of I.D i have at the moment, as I'm waiting on my age card and on my passport renewal.. so in some places I need more proof of I.D (usually my birth cert).

21 at the moment and I got my Garda ID when I was 18. Happened to have a mini-mohawk at the time I got pictures taken so that's in my Garda ID. Looks nothing like me now (bar somewhat similar glasses), but like someone else said it creates a bit of banter.

Never been refused with it to go on topic.

jezza

rb_ie wrote:

My old passport which I used up until I had to renew it recently used to get me questioned quite a bit, apparently I didn't look like the guy in the photo and got a few "That couldn't be you" etc. kind of comments from doormen. They never refused me though, if anything the passport created a bit of banter between myself and the club security which has always been a good thing.

Ah yes... when they cop on the photo and the person is different...
They ask to to get a signed thing in the garda station confirming its your id, if it is fake, go back to bouncer after about 10 minutes and tell the bouncer that the guards told you to stop wasting their time because you were under the influence.
Works down here anyway.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

robinph

jezza wrote:

Yeah they don't accept driving licences in a lot of places. There is lots and lots of great fake ones about (provisional) so they are pretty wary.
Thats the only form of I.D i have at the moment, as I'm waiting on my age card and on my passport renewal.. so in some places I need more proof of I.D (usually my birth cert).

The only thing that a birth cert proves is that your mother dropped a sprog x number of years ago. It proves absolutely nothing about you as far as getting a beer is concerned.

jezza

Well it matches the important bits of my provisional licence.

And it seems to suffice.

Ruu_Old

I used to have my age card as ID when flying and got stopped in Liverpool once and got asked what was my role in the Department of Justice.

Pazaz 21

Ruu wrote:

I used to have my age card as ID when flying and got stopped in Liverpool once and got asked what was my role in the Department of Justice.

You should have just said Minister, they wouldn't have known any better anyway !!

I would have thought you would have needed a driving licence or passport to travel to England/Uk

arybvtcw0eolkf

aidan24326 wrote:

Gone a bit past the need for id myself, but I've seen this kind of crap a few times. Most bouncers in Dublin seem to be of the neanderthal variety, and can't really be reasoned with. It's baffling that places are allowed to get away with refusing passport as a valid id. It is the number one form of id to carry anywhere in the world, and yet some d1ckhead nightclub guy thinks it's not good enough for his exclusive premises. When you get crap like this at a pub/club, you're best taking your custom elsewhere.

That usually happen's when the passport has been "Me 'ma washed the bleed'n thing in me jean's mister, I swear its me in the picture".

I've done alot of door work and thats the only time I've refused to take a passport as ID.

And here's a word of warning to the board!.

Recently (as in all jobs), there's been a huge increase in the number of foreign nationals working on the doors of clubs and pubs. Along with that there's been a huge increase in the number of passports being ceased by door staff with the excuse that he's keeping it to give to the cops.

Guys, NO ONE with the exception of a guard has the right to take your passport from you. Never, ever let your passport out of your sight or most likely your never going to see it again and someone has a valuable document!.

Sorry to bring this slightly off topic, but a few of us do infact that a professional approach to our jobs. But admittedly we're few and far between.

Alot of guys won't except the Guard ID card as its so easily faked, this is from instruction by the bar owner/manager and usually not the doorman.

Catari Jaguar

My friend was having a 21st in Katie's bar in Bray in function room. She has a kid and there were loads of lil kids in there. I went to go in with my boyf, we're both 22. Fuxn ape bouncer looks at my boyfs passport n says he can't go in. The passport was stil in date, photo n age details grand, but had been in the wash and the corners were peeling up a bit. I freaked out at him cos it was a private party and that my boyf is hardly a 17 year old with a doctered passport! But he still wouldn't let us in. :mad: My poor friend came out apologising n all.

arybvtcw0eolkf

aidan24326 wrote:

Gone a bit past the need for id myself, but I've seen this kind of crap a few times. Most bouncers in Dublin seem to be of the neanderthal variety, and can't really be reasoned with. It's baffling that places are allowed to get away with refusing passport as a valid id. It is the number one form of id to carry anywhere in the world, and yet some d1ckhead nightclub guy thinks it's not good enough for his exclusive premises. When you get crap like this at a pub/club, you're best taking your custom elsewhere.

No its not. Most countries have a national ID card.

Passports are a very valuable document, you shouldn't have to carry it here as ID/proof of age. But because of our (Irelands) fear of "oh big brother is watching" we probably won't have a proper national ID card for generations to come.

Catari Jaguar

Apparently all security staff in any form have to have these new ID cards made up. If a bouncer or security starts hassling you ask them if they have THEIR ID on them and if not you can make a formal complaint.

senordingdong

I have never, in my entire life, ever had a dispute with a bouncer. In fact, bouncers are always nice to me. It's really weird, and I feel worried that it might backfire some day. Oh well.

admiralofthefleet

it depends on the place doesnt it, im 25 and going grey around the sides and still get asked for id in some places, i laugh at it and thank the bouncers for making me feel 18 again and then usually walk in.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Lil Kitten wrote:

My friend was having a 21st in Katie's bar in Bray in function room. She has a kid and there were loads of lil kids in there. I went to go in with my boyf, we're both 22. Fuxn ape bouncer looks at my boyfs passport n says he can't go in. The passport was stil in date, photo n age details grand, but had been in the wash and the corners were peeling up a bit. I freaked out at him cos it was a private party and that my boyf is hardly a 17 year old with a doctered passport! But he still wouldn't let us in. :mad: My poor friend came out apologising n all.

Its beats the 'bejasus' out of me the amount of times I've heard that excuse

Seriously, its a valuably document why do they go ''through the wash'' so often?. I bet the same people never leave a tenner in their jean's to go "through the wash".

You also have to remember the position the bouncer is in. If your boyfriend had had his ID checked at the bar and the bar person/manager refused it the bouncer gets it in the neck!.

We should have a national identify card in this country in my opinion.

Captain Corelli

Mairt wrote:

We should have a national identify card in this country in my opinion.

I don't see why we should have a national Identity card. The problem is that the age card is not regarded as secure enough against imitation. Maybe if the security measures built into the age card were enhanced it would suffice.

The passport is a valuable document. Wouldn't a national identity card just replicate the functions of the passport? A reliable age card hsould solve teh problem.

If I was bouncing doors(and I don't), I probably wouldn't see why I should accept Driving Licences as proof as age. They are easily doctored.

Seth Brundle

The last time i was asked here for ID was in the Hairy Lemon about 10 years ago. I was about 23 or 24 at the time. A group of us went in and went straight for the snug. A few minutes later a barman came in and demanded ID from all of us. Sitting beside the door I looked up and asked if he was serious and he said he was. I then asked him how old did he think I was and he blurted out "about 30". He left us alone after that.

When I was on my honeymoon if France some years ago we cashed travellers cheques in Macon. The tellers in the bank were unsure of our passports. The teller who served me examined the passport thoroughly and asked me a number of times where I was from. The teller who was serving my wife doubted the existence of Ireland!

Mairt wrote:

Guys, NO ONE with the exception of a guard has the right to take your passport from you. Never, ever let your passport out of your sight or most likely your never going to see it again and someone has a valuable document!.

The gardai don't have the right to take it from you unless a court gives them permission.
However, from experience it is a common practice for the gardai working with GNIB to take foreign nationals passports without a decent reason!

Ruu_Old

Pazaz 21 wrote:

You should have just said Minister, they wouldn't have known any better anyway !!

I would have thought you would have needed a driving licence or passport to travel to England/Uk

"I'm the Prime Ministah!"
"Alricht, alricht, caum down, caum down!" *wavey hands motion*

Kold

Mairt wrote:

Its beats the 'bejasus' out of me the amount of times I've heard that excuse

Seriously, its a valuably document why do they go ''through the wash'' so often?. I bet the same people never leave a tenner in their jean's to go "through the wash".

You also have to remember the position the bouncer is in. If your boyfriend had had his ID checked at the bar and the bar person/manager refused it the bouncer gets it in the neck!.

We should have a national identify card in this country in my opinion.

It happens because some bouncers don't consider a garda card enough so we're forced to take it with us and we leave it in our jeans pockets.

Just a question though, have you ever let someone in with what you thought was real ID and then gotten in trouble for it being fake? I doubt you'd be held responsible. Is it really necessary to ruin so many people's evenings just because you're in a bad mood or whatever?

Blisterman

Tesco in the Merrion refused my friend, who had his passport with him, saying they only accept Garda ID.
What an idiot.