The Co-op in Jersey has launched an investigation into recent fruit and veg sales after it emerged that a customer had been overcharged by a sales assistant's breasts.

A customer at the unnamed branch raised the alarm after she was charged almost £2 for a pepper that should have cost 79 pence, the Daily Mail reports.

A supervisor investigated, and when the customer asked that the rest of her fruit and veg be reweighed, it turned out she'd been over-charged to the tune of about £5.

The overweighing was quickly traced to the cashier's chesticles, which it emerged had been inadvertently resting on the scales as she was weighing the produce.

Jim Hopley, chief executive of Channel Islands Co-operative, made it clear to the Mail that the problem was down to the cashier's low-slung chair, rather than any effort by the cashier's breasts to break the Co-op's fair pricing commitment.

"We have now adjusted the chair. We also checked the till receipt to see if anyone else had been overcharged."

He added that the Co-op was checking the till roll to see if any customers had fallen foul of the price-plumping chest.

Hopley said that he had never seen anything similar in 40 years of retail, although he had encountered problems with rhubarb in the past.

"Rhubarb sticks are quite long and hang off the end of the scale so they were actually underweighing. Now we break them in two before putting them on the scales."

The assistant concerned was "mortified" by the incident, he said, and is currently receiving support from the Co-op's HR department. ®