CHILDREN as young as 14 are using school computers to fake ID cards to buy cigarettes and alcohol illegally from pubs and newsagents.
Other teenagers are buying "novelty" ID cards, many of which look very like the real thing, for as little as £5 a card from a host of companies which advertise them in magazines such as Viz, Loaded and FHM.
Pc Mike Kelly, of Plymouth Licensing Unit, said it was suspected that some children had gained access to school or college equipment. The cards could also be created by sophisticated home computers.
"We get batches of cards in certain areas. It's obvious that someone has worked out how to produce them."
Retailers and publicans, who can have their licences revoked for selling restricted goods to underage teenagers, believe they are facing a national epidemic.
"It is an increasing problem all over the country and a real worry for our members," said Tony Payne, chief executive of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Association.
"Retailers and publicans have no way of checking that the ID is genuine. They are forced to take it at face value. We would like the Government to issue a more secure form of national identity card to help solve this problem."
Last month, a schoolgirl fell to her death on her 14th birthday from the roof of one of Britain's most expensive schools, after drinking vodka bought with the help of a forged rail card.
As a result of Jennifer Gelardi's death, Millfield is to issue all pupils over 18 with official identity cards.
The issue has caused such concern in some areas of the country that police have recommended that publicans accept only 10-year passports as proof of age.
Peter Jones, of the Licensed Leisure Association, a trade body with 30 members in Plymouth, said: "We have confiscated dozens of fake cards - counterfeit Student Union cards seem to be a particular problem.
"You can buy them for £20 or cheaper on the street. The cards are a pretty high standard."
In Blackpool, trading standards officers have had a particular problem with forgeries of the Proof of Age card, an ID card for over-18s produced by the Portman Group, the watchdog group of the drinks industry. The group has issued more than 300,000 genuine Proof of Age cards since the scheme was launched in 1990 and has no plans to withdraw them.
But David Poley, of the group, said: "We are concerned that there are copies out there. When they are put side by side with the real thing you can see that the cards are fake.
"But they are confusing retailers. We are also concerned at the various magazines which are advertising a range of 'novelty' IDs."
The advertisements are not illegal as long as they include a line on the bottom of the advertisement which states "Misuse may be illegal". But the boom in such products, and the number of companies which market them, has attracted the attention of the Advertising Standards Authority.
"There has been a distinct increase in the amount of concern about these advertisements," said a spokesman for the ASA.
"In most cases, the companies stay on the right side of existing law by advertising 'novelty' products. Only when the cards are misused does it become a criminal offence.
"There is possibly the need for new and tighter legislation."
The ASA has received complaints relating to advertisements by Belvine, SadBros, and Leisureline Services, all of which advertise in British magazines.
The Government, which this week released a new laminated card for driving licences, is also considering introducing a national identity card scheme for up to seven million young people.
They would be asked to show it before being allowed to buy alcohol, cigarettes, scratch cards, fireworks and some videos.
But Jim Curry, a London-based website designer and consultant, doubts that any card could truly be fake-proof.
"Just about anything can be faked by computer now," he said. "Security remains a major problem."
