Is “Force-purchasing” legal?

[atticus]

Yes, Hari, it is not hard to come up with scenarios that differ from the one presented by the OP.

Next ...

[HariSeldon]

Intersting Scenario theres cash on the counter guaranteed payment and an offer of a card payment which may not go through what then?

As with all transactions it's up to the seller to decide which offer they wish to accept, not for a customer to unilaterally make that decision.

Yes, Hari, it is not hard to come up with scenarios that differ from the one presented by the OP. Next ...

I'm guessing you didn't actually read my post properly, specifically the last line: "The OP's situation could be similar if the customer believed they were about to be refused the purchase due to looking too young."

You said you failed to see how the customer could be acting dishonestly if they left money on the counter. I've given you an example of exactly how the OP's customer could be acting dishonestly. Next...

[Rory640]

I want to thank everyone for their responses. I still haven't heard back from Trading Standards. Also wrote to my solicitor. Thanks for your support still.

[jaguarsuk]

I want to thank everyone for their responses. I still haven't heard back from Trading Standards. Also wrote to my solicitor. Thanks for your support still.

There's been a nice legal debate here for those of us interested in the law, however I think to round this out the overriding advice to you Rory would be to position age restricted items in your store where they are visible to customer, but you have control of distributing them to facilitate you asking the age restriction question.

[Rory640]

There's been a nice legal debate here for those of us interested in the law, however I think to round this out the overriding advice to you Rory would be to position age restricted items in your store where they are visible to customer, but you have control of distributing them to facilitate you asking the age restriction question.

I'll see if I can do this.