CUSTOMERS who appear to be under 25 will be asked for photographic identification if they try to buy alcohol at BP garages in Fife.
The move, which is part of the company's attempt to support police in their fight against under-age drinking, follows the decision by West Fife Divisional Licensing Board to suspend BP's licence at a station at Dalgety Bay after ruling that it was guilty of allowing an under-age person to buy drink there.
Under the new scheme, BP workers can ask anybody who they think is under 25 in their six petrol stations in Fife to provide documentation before they can be sold alcohol.
The company may roll out its Challenge 25 scheme to other Scottish stores.
A BP spokesman said: "By increasing the age limit to 25, staff at our stores should now be able to clearly spot that the person is genuinely entitled to buy alcohol or not."
It denied the plan was being brought in simply because it had failed "a test purchase" case in Fife and had its licence suspended in its Dalgety outlet.
BP said it was continuing with its appeal against having its licence suspended, but was dropping its loophole-in-thelaw argument.
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