Edvarts Dzelzitis was eventually allowed into Embrace nightclub after his friend spoke at length to the head doorman at Embrace on Burgess Street on Friday, November 21.
The 20-year-old Latvian, who studies Civil Engineering with Business Management, was angered by the incident.
He said: "One bouncer didn’t want to let us in. So after a while arguing, we got in thanks to my friend talking to the main bouncer.
"I have never had any other trouble at nightclubs. The EU driving licence looks very like the UK driving licence. I was quite surprised and it wasn’t like the bouncer took a proper look at it anyway."
Dzelzitis has asked the Embrace management to confirm whether or not they accept EU driving licences as forms of identification.
Bill Surtees, Embrace manager, stated that the nightclub follow South Yorkshire Police guidelines by accepting either a Portman Group hologram card, passport, or a photographic driving licence.
He said: "If the identification is in a good state of repair and legible, then that’s acceptable. We operate a Challenge 21 policy - if we believe a person is under 21 we ask them for identification.
"If [Dzelzitis] has been let in then the doorman has shown an amount of flexibility. On a student night there is always an amount of flexibility. If they have given him the benefit of the doubt, then they have shown a bit of humanity and diligence."
Sajeev Jeganathan, Union International Officer, said he has never heard of any students having problems using an EU driving licence as proof of age.
"I would have expected the driving licence would have been accepted unless Embrace have a particular problem with them," he added.
"It’s a pity that these things still happen in Sheffield - it’s a multicultural city. Foreigners still find issues like this and it’s sad, but I still can’t understand why they wouldn’t let them in."
Jeganathan added that it is impracticable for students to carry around passports as a back-up identification in case this sort of problem happens.
He said: "There have been issues with international students carrying their passport, so they should always carry a different form of ID.
"Passports are valuable and you would not want to mislay it in a club – that would a big problem. I wouldn’t advise anyone to carry them around as if they lose it it’s a big problem."
Earlier this year, a 21-year-old Politics student from Denmark claimed she was discriminated against by a Somerfield store in central Sheffield.
Tal Szlenski was not allowed to purchase alcohol despite having a European Union driving licence and a Danish passport.
Somerfield said at the time: "We are not breaking any laws – [we] can only accept ID that is recognised by the UK, this is with the support of the Government."
Mark Duell
No comments:
Post a Comment