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A greying 53-year-old England fan had to settle for a banana milkshake after a barman judged his British driving licence an ‘invalid’ form of ID.
Gooner fanzine editor Layth Yousif was out with three friends in Seattle, Washington State, when they decided to go for a drink and something to eat on Sunday.
To his surprise, the barman at the Lost Lake Cafe and Restaurant asked the four-strong party, which consisted of two Americans, a Canadian and Layth, for ID when they ordered alcohol.
Layth, a sports journalist who is out in America covering the World Cup, produced his UK driving licence in what he thought would just be a formality.
‘He looked at it and said he’d have to check with his manager and see if he could accept it,’ the father-of-three told Metro.
‘A couple of minutes later he came back and said it was invalid and as I couldn’t prove I was over 21 (the legal age of drinking in America) I’d have to get a soft drink.
‘So I ordered their milkshake of the month which was a banana cream pie while all my mates enjoyed a beer.’
Layth, from south London, said that while being ‘taken aback at first’, the group, which consisted of a Canadian and two Americans, quickly saw the funny side of it.
‘I wasn’t angry in the slightest,’ he said.
‘It was actually just funny as I’m 53. The banana cream milkshake I had instead was delicious.
‘As my friends pointed out, I have grey in my beard and we joked there can’t have been too many 20 year olds in Seattle with salt and pepper beards.
‘We were all taken aback at first, but then just found it funny as I’m 53 and have three grown up kids.
‘It was also amusing that they simply didn’t recognise my British driver’s licence.
‘I might as well have shown them my Costco card for all the good it did. To be fair at my age, I was flattered.’
Life-long Arsenal fan Layth is covering the World Cup for the Morning Star.
This gave him the ‘perfect excuse’ to visit Seattle-native Jason Quillin and a Canadian friend.
The trio became friends when they studied for an MBA at Westminster Business School in 2011.
Quillin’s wife was also in the group, all of whom had North American ID apart from Layth.
Despite the setback, it’s not all bad news for Layth, who travelled to Budapest to cover his team’s heartbreaking penalty shootout loss to PSG in the UEFA Champions League final earlier this month.
‘I had no issue getting hammered on Monday night,’ he joked.
His World Cup coverage has so far seen him visit Toronto earlier this month before England’s opening game against Croatia at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas at 9pm GMT tomorrow.