Could self-checkouts sell alcohol without human approval?

Question

In the UK, self-service checkouts can sell alcohol, but the transaction must be approved by a human - at least, in all the supermarkets I've seen.

Is it possible to do this without human approval and still be legal?

I'm a personal license holder, so I've some familiarity with the law. Each sale must be authorised by the license holder - but this authority can be delegated. Also, whoever is making the sale must check the person is of age, not drunk, and there's a couple of other subtleties. What I don't know is how exactly this could be interpreted.

A self-service checkout can do an ID check - perhaps you need manual verification for your first purchase, and using the same credit card in future allows automatic approval. Checking for drunk customers is harder, but perhaps the store could have a blanket "no drunks in store" policy.

Is there any history of any store trying this? Is it legally a non-starter?

Answer 1

A vending machine of this type was proposed and reported upon by the BBC this summer. It isn't clear if it has actually been approved by sale by English officials in charge of alcohol regulation.

Answer 2

As long as you are happy to allow the machine to make the determination then you could allow it to sell alcohol on your licence. It would be no different to, say, scanning an ID card for validation.

You are responsible for ensuring that proper checks are made. How those checks are made is up to you, and you are responsible if they fail.

A related example would be age validation by credit card check for web site access. Verification has been delegated to the server doing a database lookup to confirm the identity of the cardholder, who the bank should have checked was at least 18. A human is not involved in the process.