went to cinema with nephew and niece

got our tickets

had an hour to kill so went into the cinema starbucks for a while

went and sat in the screen

had been sitting there 20min when a security guard came walking along our row... at first just assumed he wanted to be past so we moved our legs... once he got close to us he stopped next to us and asked how old my niece is, I said 15 (she is) - film was birdman, a 15, obviously I haven't see it, but it's not a horror, not full of sex etc. etc.

then he asked for ID... I asked him what sort of ID is a 15yr old supposed to have... he said passport

my niece was pretty upset, so I just told him we we want a refund and we're leaving

got a refund and left...

f**king pissed off

I was going to send my nephew and niece to the car, so I could tell the guy what I thought of him right there, but he ran off before I had a chance

going to write a letter and complain tomorrow

going to go in and see the manager too


he wasn't overly aggressive about it.... but he could have been a lot more pleasant... I'm slightly worried that it's my local cinima and I go there all the time, so might end up beating the sh*t out of him next time I see him

they could have asked for ID when we bought the tickets, or when the ticket guy tore them as we went in, instead of after we've been sitting in there for 20min

Some how I read this as "Got thrown out of china" glad it was just the cinema, but that is pretty poor, especially after sitting there so long..

What an arse!

I had this happen to me when I was actually 15 and I went with some mates to go see As Good As It Gets - after getting kicked out we ended up having to see sodding Titanic

The only saving grace was Kate Winslet with her baps out.

It's really embarassing and not on when you're clearly with older/responsible people. It's not like a big group of 12 year olds trying to get into an 18, the cinemas moan as is that they don't earn enough money so they should resent this jobsworth behaviour.

Really it should be up to the doorman person who tears the tickets to check. When you complain you should point that out.

It's the equivalent of a supermarket selling an underage kid alcohol and then the security guard stopping them as they tried to leave the shop. Pretty sure the law in that instance would result in the shop being fined big time/losing their licence as it should never have been sold in the first place if in doubt...

(I know your niece wasn't underage, but it's the same kind of "look 15/21, show id" scenario I guess...)

googled, and the cinema isn't even required to check ID etc...

they can't 'knowingly allow an under 15 to see and 15 rated film"


she could pass for under 15 easily if she wanted, but she looks older than plenty of her friends

there was no reason other than looking at her to make them think she's under 15

and me (33) telling them she's 15 should have been more than enough