To ID, or not to ID

[Richard A Thackeray]

I was in a local Post Office earlier

There was a lady stood at the counter, asking the assistant if anyone had handed a drivling licence in, as she thought she may have left hers there, whilst getting items out of her handbag

Customer = "It was both parts, the paper section, & the Photo ID card, both together in a plastic wallet
Assistant = "Yes, we have one here, that was handed in"

Customer = "Oh great, that must be mine"

Assistant = "I'm sorry. but do you have any ID on you to confirm it's yours?"
Lady customer & I look as each other

I wait for the other counter assistant to stop laughing, before I get my stamps

 

[winjim]

 

[Scoosh]

Classic !

Trouble is, one can understand what they are getting at !

 

[jhawk]

Oh dear!

 

[tyred]

My uncle moved house and wanted his licence changed to the new address. He went in person, handed over his current and valid licence and was asked for photographic ID. He pointed out that you already have my licence with my photo on it. The response "yes sir, but we can't accept driving licences as ID"

 

[slowmotion]

I've been a signatory for our company bank account for thirty years. A month ago I got a letter from the bank telling me to present myself to any branch of Lloyds with some photographic ID and proof of my home address. Quite why I might have assumed an alias remains a mystery.

 

[TwickenhamCyclist]

A long time ago I had a visitor passport - (if you don't remember them, they lasted a year, you got them from the post office and you could travel to a limited number of destinations on them. They were handy if you were like me at the time - young, a bit too skint for a full 10 year one and only wanted to go to Europe.) This was in the 80's and there wasn't a lot of other photo ID around at the time - all I had was an nus card and a bus pass.
I'd had the account for years and I can't remember exactly what it was for now, but it couldn't have been anything serious or involved more than a few quid (I was a skint student) anyway, my bank asked me to bring in some photo ID. I took in my bus pass, nus card and last years passport. They wouldn't accept the bus pass or nus card (fair enough) but said the passport would be OK - until they noticed it was expired by a few days. I can kind of accept the logic behind only accepting a current piece of ID, but I was told it was no good because it could have been forged - people throw them away and I could have picked it out of a bin and stuck my picture on it. I pointed out the stamp that ran across the picture and the card of the passport was perfectly in sync etc - yeh but you still could have forged it. If I was going to forge something don't you think I'd forge the date as well? And its not like I'm trying to cross a border on it.... seem to remember they accepted it in the end

 

[Arch]

A colleague and I both renewed our passports when we were going to a conference in Mexico. When they came back, we compared photos and concluded that we could almost pass as each other, since the requirements of the photo robbed us of key identifying features (glasses in her case, and my teeth, as they normally show and I'd been told I had to cover them up). If there's anything guaranteed to rob a person of their individuality, it's a passport photo.

I bet if someone had come in and claimed the licence, on account of looking quite like the photo, the owner would be kicking up a fuss.

 

[Mr Celine]

I left my wallet in a phone box once, many years ago, when I was 17. The post mistress at the adjoining post office had found it and handed it in to the police station. At the police station the desk PC asked me for ID, such as my driving licence. I told him it was in the wallet, and gave him the driver number (this was pre photo licence days), which he duly checked, confirmed I had given the correct number, but said he coundn't give me the wallet until I provided ID. I told him where in the wallet he would find a passport photo of me, which he duly found, studied, agreed it was me then repeated once more that he couldn't give it to me until I provided ID.

 

[screenman]

I have got a letter from Aviva to tell me that an endowment policy is due to pay out and, amongst other stuff, they want a copy of a bank statement to pay the money to. They have never bothered about it all the time it has been paying in though.

They might be thinking you want it paid in somewhere different, when my endowments come out they are never paid into the account that pays them.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

...when my endowments come out...

Oooer!

 

[CopperBrompton]

Long before 9/11, in the days when airline check-in staff didn't check your passport and you usually just waved it in the general direction of the border control staff, I had my bag stolen the day before a business trip to Rome.

As it had been stolen, the Passport Office weren't allowed to do a same-day replacement (stolen passports require more enquiries to be made), but I had to make the trip. Eventually, the person I was speaking to at the Passport Office took pity on me and offered me a potential solution on an "I didn't tell you this" basis.

I followed his advice and purchased the item he suggested. The next day, I successfully flew Heathrow > Rome > Heathrow by waving the completely empty passport cover at them at both airports ...

 

[Profpointy]

there's a nice story about David Gower on a cricket tour in Jamaica going into a bank, and being greeted by a delighted bank clerk, also a cricket fan, "Mr David Gower, I'm your biggest fan, it's a great honour etc" Gower thanks the guy and chats a bit, then carries on with his transaction......

..... "have you got some ID?"

 

[swee'pea99]

there's a nice story about David Gower on a cricket tour in Jamaica going into a bank, and being greeted by a delighted bank clerk, also a cricket fan, "Mr David Gower, I'm your biggest fan, it's a great honour etc" Gower thanks the guy and chats a bit, then carries on with his transaction......

..... "have you got some ID?"

You remind me of a story I came across some years ago about the then US Secretary of the Treasury - the guy whose signature appears on US paper money - having a meal with friends at a restaurant in Washington DC. As one of the most famous men in the town, he was surprised to be asked if he had any proof to cover the signature on his cheque. He pulled out a dollar bill: "Will this do...?"

 

[Ganymede]

My Dad has no photo ID at all - he's 86, has let his passport lapse and isn't allowed to drive any more. It used to worry him but luckily he's forgotten all about it now.

All this talk of passports reminds me of a story in John Simpson's book about being a foreign correspondent. He had some hellish journey back from some frightful hell-hole/war zone, filthy, no luggage etc and realised he had no passport either. Going through an international airport at the dead of night, he just waited till the bored and sleepy clerk was looking the other way and crawled along the floor past the booth. He was so desperate to get home!