A man has described his disgust at being refused service at a Tesco store when he attempted to buy a drink for a homeless woman outside.
Daniel Heard attempted to buy a milkshake for the woman, but was told by a senior manager not to buy it for her.
He said he was left furious when he was then told they would not sell it to him.
The 40-year-old said he shops at the store three or four times a week and would often buy things in the reduced section for homeless people.
"I said I’d get them something nice,” he told Lincolnshire Live.
“I walked down the aisle looking for something for myself and then the woman ran across and popped in the shop to say she wasn’t hungry, but she’d love a milkshake."
He said the woman was confronted by a member of staff, who told her to get out as she could be stealing from the Lincoln Tesco Express on Corporation Street.
'Don’t purchase it for her'
“The chap then turned to me and said don’t purchase it for her,” he said.
“I said I’ll spend my money on what I want and he said if I did they wouldn't serve me.”
He said the woman did get a milkshake in the end, as a friend of his went to the shop afterwards and bought it for her.
But he was left furious by the incident - and later complained to Tesco.
“Every time something like this happens it scratches away a bit of my humanity,” he said. “A lot of them are just in a bad way and just need a bit of compassion.
“These people are starving and at the end of the day, they’re only going to put it in the bin.”
What Tesco has said
A spokesperson for Tesco confirmed the incident on May 19 did take place and apologised.
“The woman in question is currently banned from the store due to threatening behaviour towards one of our colleagues,” he said.
“However, we appreciate that we should not have refused to serve the customer buying items in this instance and apologise for the error we have made."
