Is a citizen card acceptable?

Posted by Ambitious_Name94@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 31 comments

Hi everyone! I was invited last week to a birthday day & night out in Manchester for a close friend . I don’t have any ID, long story short was homeless for years and then just sort of didn’t bother, but I knew it would cause issues if I had none for a night out. I figured that provisional would be best option. Due to having no photo ID I filled out the form and paid online as I thought it would be quicker but now I have to wait for the pre-filled form to send back with my birth certificate and a referee, only thing is the night out is the 16th of may and I’m worried it won’t come in time! Would a citizen card be okay as I know they have a quick turn around and I don’t mind paying for it in the time being? Or should I just plan not to go and avoid being disappointed? I usually get in places like pubs fine as I’m covered in tattoos but at 4ft 10 girl and a bit of a baby face I think out in town actual clubs might be a lot stricter! Tia 😊

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Aware-Dragonfly4433@reddit

yes it would be, by UK law its an accepted form of ID

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hypoxiafox@reddit

Sure, but it's each vendor's discretion whether they accept it or not. I was trained to not accept these at a particular franchise. Another place we had to stop accepting Scottish notes as there were a lot of fakes being passed around locally.

Worth trying though OP!

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Aware-Dragonfly4433@reddit

No it's not 'sure but it's at the vendors discretion'

a citizens card is just as worthy as a passport or drivers license, and scottish bank notes have nothing to do with what ID is accepted.

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hypoxiafox@reddit

Have you ever worked in retail/hospitality? Lmao

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insomnimax_99@reddit

No it's not 'sure but it's at the vendors discretion'

Yes it absolutely is.

There’s no law that says that a vendor must accept it (or any other form of ID) as a valid form of ID.

It’s entirely up to the vendor to decide how they want to ascertain your age. Most will only accept passport/driving license, but they can accept/reject anything they want. They could accept a railcard and reject passports if they really wanted to.

Pretty much the only legal requirement that they have is to not sell age restricted products to underage customers. That’s it. How they go about that is largely up to them.

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Aware-Dragonfly4433@reddit

such a BOT comment

vendor, and another place WE had to stop

worth trying though OP

lmao

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jamnut@reddit

It isn't. Some clubs used to accept it when I turned 18 and I didn't have a provisional or passport, but it wouldn't be acceptable as an ID for a job application

No_Candle2537@reddit

It's my only form of ID, and I've only had issues for very formal things. Think bank accounts and government things. It's been fine for day to day life and has been for 4 years now.

wojtek30@reddit

Why not get a provisional license

I messed up the form last time I tried and they sent it back. Haven't bothered trying again since, haven't needed it for anything.

nutrition_nomad_@reddit

a citizen card is sometimes accepted but clubs can be really strict, so it’s a bit of a gamble and depends on the place. if the night means a lot, it might be safer to have a backup plan just in case you get turned away

IncoherentAndroid@reddit

In Manchester there are places that will turn you away for imaginary reasons. I have no idea why businesses will pretend to be members only for no specific reason.

But I think pass cards are reasonably well known in the nightlife industry. When talking to bar staff/security they have said they'd accept them. Never seen anyone with one though.

Do have a backup plan. Be polite to the staff, and try to reason with them if they're not sure. If SIA training is worth anything, hopefully they have an idea on what is acceptable ID.

sonicofawn@reddit

u should be able to get into satans if ur friends have id

Pedantichrist@reddit

Get a voter ID, it is free.

aberdoom@reddit

But it won’t help in this situation literally at all.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

Your Voter Authority Certificate cannot be used as proof of identification for other reasons, for example to prove your age.

The same is true of the citizen card.

Punk_Princess_Sarah@reddit

You can’t use it for anything other than voting though. It’s not accepted as proof of age for buying alcohol in supermarkets so I doubt it’d get OP into clubs.

CharmingSwing1366@reddit

it’s a legally recognised id, potentially places may not be familiar with it depending on where u are going

Mdann52@reddit

It's not legally recognised, there is no legislation making it "official". Venues can or can not accept it as they wish

YetAnotherInterneter@reddit

It is recognised by the SIA which is the government authority responsible for issuing licenses to security guards, bouncers, etc.

So in theory all SIA guards should accept it, but sometimes you’ll get the odd guard who hasn’t paid enough attention in their training and doesn’t know what it is. But if you remain calm but firm and insist on speaking to their supervisor that should clear up the situation.

CactusCastrator@reddit

They're referring to it being a PASS system card, which should make it broadly recognised, but in practice people see so few of them that they wouldn't know whether or not one is fake.

ross-dirext-words137@reddit

If you have a load of tattoos you might be overthinking it. If your Scotland have a look at the young Scot card.

AClockworkLaurenge@reddit

Young Scot card has the same issue where it can technically be accepted due to the PASS logo but also not everywhere will accept it, especially nightclubs.

A mate had friends come down from Perth for his 21st in Glasgow and they'd only brought their Young Scot cards as ID since apparently they never had an issue with using it in Perth. They couldn't understand why we were stressing since "it's got the PASS logo". Unsurprisingly they were the only ones knocked back because almost all the clubs and pubs in Glasgow will only accept your passport or a driver's license.

(His friends couldn't fathom WHY they wouldn't accept it... until one guy mentioned that allegedly the numbers on the YoungScot card at least used to be somewhat easy to manipulate depending on your birth year, as his may or may not have convinced shops he was a couple years older than he was.)

Worth-Department1893@reddit

10 years ago when I was 18, basically nowhere accepted it. Clubs in Manchester will require driving licence or passport

Embarrassed_Park2212@reddit

I have one and I haven't had any issue with using it for ID but then I'm not using it for nights out etc, I did have a driving licence but am not allowed to drive anymore so the citizen card was the next best thing.

If you do go for the citizen card use FREEVOTERID and it's free, if that promo code doesn't work, google citizen card promo code and you should find one to work.

I would just use that though until you can get the provisional driving licence.

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