A LANGORE grandmother has spoken of her extreme embarrassment after Tesco refused to sell her alcohol because she had spoken to her 17 year old son.

Carole Hutchinson, along with her partner and son, had visited Tesco in Launceston on Monday, April 6 on their way home from Plymouth.

Carole wanted to purchase a fairly soft alcoholic drink but could not make up her mind which. Whilst in the alcohol aisle deciding, her excited son arrived to tell her he had found the computer game he wanted and it was considerably cheaper than it was in Plymouth.

Carole explained: "I replied that that was great and then proceeded to tell him I couldn't make up my mind about the cans. He replied that he would give me some money towards it as I had saved him £15. I gratefully refused, he then went off to find his dad to tell him about his purchase."

After making a decision, Carole took her selected drink to the checkout where, to her astonishment, the assistant refused to serve her.

'DISINTERESTED'

Carole said: "The checkout assistant said 'I am refusing to serve you because I believe you are purchasing alcohol for a young lad I witnessed you talking to'. At first I thought it was some kind of joke.

"I said that the young lad was my son. She was totally disinterested and obviously did not believe we were related."

The manager was summoned who explained the store's policies to Miss Hutchinson. Carole said: "When he arrived I was already totally embarrassed and humiliated by others witnessing this false accusation of a criminal offence."

She added: "I was really angry and he just could not seem to understand what I was so upset about."

They then moved to the customer service desk. Carole said: "So not only was I being humiliated at the checkout I now had to repeat this degrading situation again by the door."

After explaining the situation yet again to a female manager, Carole was told she would be escorted from the premises if she did not leave. Carole said: "I did raise my voice but I didn't shout or swear, and I stayed in my own space. It was unbelievable."

The experience was very upsetting for Carole who had been a customer at Tesco for 30 years: "I was shaking with shock, anger and disbelief at the way I was treated. In fact I was so stressed that I spent the night and the following morning in tears having had no sleep through the night."

Carole said the arthritis in her shoulders and neck had flared up leaving her in considerable pain.

After the incident Carole visited the local police station who informed her that Tesco had the right to refuse to serve customers but advised her to log a complaint with the supermarket immediately, which she did. She also wrote letters to the head office and the manager of the Launceston store.

Carole said: "I'm not stupid, I know they have policies but it was the whole way they dealt with it. I've worked in a shop, I've been a supervisor and there's a way of dealing with problems."

She believed the store's policies should be on show to "warn innocent and loyal customers what they may be subjected to."

She added: "What I really want is, I don't want anyone else to go through that situation."

After last week's incident Carole said: "As from now, unless my life depends on it, I and my partner will never step foot in a Tesco store and will travel wherever necessary to go to Asda, Morrisons or Sainsburys where hopefully customers are treated with more respect and dignity."

A spokesman for Tesco said:  "Our communication to customers on this must be very clear; it's not against the law for adults to buy alcohol for themselves if they have under 18s with them. Of course not, this is often the case during school holiday periods for example.

'COMMON SENSE'

"It is only against the law to sell an adult alcohol if it is suspected they are buying the alcohol for someone under 18. This is a common sense judgement call our staff up and down the country have to make many times each day and in the vast majority of cases the right decision is made. Mistakes will occasionally occur however and we apologise for those, it is not our intention to offend or embarrass."