A TRADING standards boss suggested an 18-year-old girl renew her two-month-old passport after a shopkeeper did not accept it when she tried to buy cigarettes for her mother.

David Bradford, principal trading standards officer for Oxfordshire County Council, spoke after Jade Smith was turned down at a store in Witney.

Tahir Akram, the owner of News Links in Corn Street, turned her away because he thought she was too young – and did not look like the picture in her passport.

The photograph had only been taken in August. Miss Smith, an animal care student at Abingdon and Witney College’s Common Leys campus near Hailey, said the only change in her appearance has been having her hair cut by four inches.

She said: “They should have taken the passport, it is an official document. “They treated me like a child, they thought I was about 12.”

Her mother, Yvonne, 55, from Waddard’s Meadow, Witney, was so irritated, she wrote to Mr Bradford, who replied saying: “Retailers know they must be wary of our officers sending underage volunteers to test purchase age restricted products like cigarettes and this undoubtedly makes them extra cautious when a purchaser does not look 18.

“My only advice would be for your daughter to have her passport renewed with an up-to-date photograph which is an accurate likeness, or if she has a photographic driving licence or ID card she could use either of those to prove her age.

“I realise this is annoying to you and your daughter, but trust you will understand the Government’s concern for enforcement of age-restricted products legislation is in the interest of children’s health.”

But Mrs Smith said: “You can see it is her, even though her hair is short.

“Are they saying every time you have something done to your hair or your face you have to fork out another £95 for a new passport? “Shopkeepers are going overboard and being far too zealous. It has to stop.

“It is not fair for a person who is 18 to be treated like a child. There is no point being 18 if you cannot do anything. And if a passport is not good enough, then what is?”

County council spokesman Owen Morton said: “Retailers of cigarettes have a duty to ensure they do not sell to people under 18.

“Ultimately, if they are unsure that identification is accurate they will refuse the sale.

“Regardless of the underage legislation, retailers are not under any legal duty to sell any of their goods to any person.”

Mr Akram said he now accepted the photograph was a likeness of Jade, but was busy when she came in.

He said: “We have to be cautious because the council has done a couple of test cases on us.

“It is better to be over cautious than not at all.

“We know who she is now and we will serve her when she next comes in.”