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Tesco has been accused of discriminating against state school children by making them queue outside a store while private school pupils can come and go as they please.

Parents hit out at the supermarket giant amid claims students from Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh were made to wait behind a barrier by staff at one branch in the Scottish capital.

It was claimed the pupils could only enter in small groups while students from the nearby private school, George Watson’s College, were not stopped at all.

The issue was raised by one state school parent who argued the apparent policy was a “form of discrimination”.

Tesco has denied the claims.

Neil Pollock, a professor of innovation and social informatics at Edinburgh University, told the Guardian: “Everybody should queue or nobody should queue.

“My son is at Boroughmuir. He has to stand in the queue each day. He’s not one to complain but it was getting him down - so we decided to do something.

“He and his friends are frustrated because they have to wait outside whilst others go ahead of them. Tesco also ‘police’ the door in that they have a person there making sure they queue.”

Mr Pollock was contacted by a Tesco representative via Twitter who said private school pupils were “easier for the store” because there were less of them.

The representative reportedly added “I agree we cannot have different rules” when Mr Pollock dismissed the explanation.

However, Tesco has since denied the practice took place.

A spokesman told the Standard: “This is completely untrue – there has never been any discrimination between state and private school children at this store.”