Mother slams Tesco for refusing to sell her wine while shopping with 17-year-old daughter

'Fuming is an understatement'

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A mum has been left furious after Tesco refused to sell her wine because she was shopping with her 17-year-old daughter.

Taking to Facebook, Catherine O’Callaghan from Halifax, West Yorkshire explained that she had spent an hour doing her weekly shop and that her trolley was “overflowing with the essentials” - as well a bottle of rosé wine which she bought for herself as an end of week treat.

However, after packing the majority of her purchases, the cashier then asked if the 47-year-old’s daughter, Niamh, who is just 17-years-old, had ID.

Confused, O’Callaghan asked if the cashier was joking but when she confirmed that it was in fact store policy. She says she became so enraged that she abandoned all her shopping at the check out and left the store empty handed.

“Fuming is an understatement!!!!!!,” the angry mum wrote on Facebook.

“Spent over an hour doing the big shop, trolley overflowing with the essential and a treat for me. 1 bottle of wine to get over a **** week at work.

“Said bottle was almost the last item to scan, all my bags for life packed in the trolley and the check out girl asks for ID for my eldest who was with me.

“I asked if she was joking but no it's policy to ask. So said 'stuff it' so shopping tipped on to check out and in to trolley as I need to save my bags for life.”

And, it seems this isn’t the first time the supermarket has been overzealous in its policies as friends responding to O’Callaghan’s post reveal that it had happened to them to.

“This happened to me once in Tesco’s. Brandon was about 16 I think,” one person wrote.

Another added, “To be fair this happened to me a few years ago but I didn’t dump the shopping and just left the booze and when I left the supermarket I was fuming.

“Wish I’d of done what you did and dumped the shopping - go Cath. It’s an awful policy and I hope you get some compensation for your wasted time.”

A Tesco spokesperson said: "We take our responsibilities as a retailer of alcohol very seriously, so we have a strict Think 25 policy.

"Customers may be asked for ID if our colleagues believe there is a chance that a product may be consumed by someone who is under the legal age.

"It is never our intention to cause offence and we're sorry if we were a little over-zealous on this occasion."