42-year-old RAF squadron leader Mark Giles has been prevented from buying red wine at his local Sainsbury’s because he had his 17-year-old son with him. Obviously someone with a commendably low tolerance for such nonsense, he left his shopping where it was and walked out. He also pointed out later that it would be perfectly legal for him to take the wine home and give his son a glass of it. We have seen this kind of thing before, but what is even more appalling in this case is that no apology or mumbling about an “overzealous cashier” was forthcoming from Sainsbury’s. I doubt whether he’ll be shopping there again in a hurry.
Many parents would reasonably expect their children to help them put their supermarket shopping on the conveyor at the checkout, but it’s running a risk if they happen to handle a bottle of beer and then the whole transaction has to be abandoned.
It would be tempting if you knew a supermarket that applied such a ludicrous policy to take your child with you, buy a couple of hundred pounds’ worth of frozen stuff, and a single bottle of weak beer, and leave it all on the checkout if refused service.