A burgeoning trade in mail-order identity cards is being abused by under-age youngsters seeking to buy cigarettes and alcohol.

An investigation by consumer watchdogs in North Yorkshire found identity cards openly advertised in magazines and on the Internet.

In one magazine, four separate adverts for ID cards appeared on the same page.

The companies selling the cards are not breaking the law, but the scope for abuse is enormous, say trading standards officers.

As part of the investigation, the 14-year-old daughter of a trading standards officer applied for a number of the mail-order cards - which had the section relating to date of birth left free so youngsters could insert any date they chose.

The findings of the investigation and copies of the ID cards ordered by the girl will be shown to county councillors at a meeting in Northallerton tomorrow.

And county councillors will be urged to back a national voluntary ID card system - a campaign which is being led by Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh. They will also be asked to pass on the findings of the trading standards investigation to the Government.

Gordon Gresty, head of trading standards for the county council, said a national, Government-backed scheme was vital if ID cards were to work.

Such a scheme, he said, would also ease the confusion created by the wealth of ID cards now in use and stop the misuse of cards by young people.

The investigation was prompted by reports from a supermarket in Scarborough that young people were using false ID cards to buy age-restricted products such as alcohol, cigarettes and lottery tickets.

Mr Gresty said: "We need ID cards we can trust.

"I think retailers would find it very helpful as it is difficult for them to establish people's ages."

He said it was difficult to tell how wide-spread the use of false ID cards were by young people, but added: "These companies are in business and there are four in one page in one magazine, so obviously there is a market there.

"Once it becomes known you can get these things, I suspect many young people will probably use them."

And he advised retailers that if they were in doubt of a person's age and suspected an ID card was a fake, to seek other forms of identification or refuse to serve the young person.

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