ParcelHero has released a statement urging change to the way age verification is carried out. It still appears to be relatively easy for underage people to get access to restricted items through online purchases. Among those products are alcohol, nicotine products and knives, it has been calculated that thousands of under-age children have managed to get their hands on age restricted items illegally each year because there is a lack of proper and effective age checks.

ParcelHero has expressed their concern about the lack of enforcement around the online purchase of restricted items. The e-commerce delivery expert has suggested that retailers should be using the advancements that have been made in technology to verify a customer’s age as opposed to relying on simple and easily-bypasses systems such as tick boxes.

ParcelHero has found that up to 15% of 14 and 15 year olds in the UK have bought alcohol online, with 16% of High school age children buying vapes in 2015. Results show that more than half of retailers that carry out home delivery services don’t check ID at the point of delivery, therefore children are being allowed to illegally purchase knives and other age-restricted items while avoiding age checks on delivery by leaving a note for the courier saying that they are out.

With the range of age restricted goods and services that are available for purchase online it is vital that more checks are put in place to protect children while also allowing the convenience of this service to continue. In a large number of cases, retailers are left to put their own preferred verification check in place, from online questions to expecting their courier to check ID. This freedom creates more confusion and forms a number of loopholes that teenagers can exploit.

As technology develops, there should be better age verification software developed, leaving tick boxes and easily falsified date of birth inputs in the past.