Supermarket giant Tesco has apologised to a customer who says he and his boyfriend were called “disgusting” by a staff member for kissing.

PinkNews reader Steve Luetchford told his account of the incident, which took place at the Brixton branch of Tesco. He said the staff member implied that two men should not show affection in front of children.

Luetchford has now told PinkNews that customer services at Tesco have contacted the couple to apologise for the incident.

The store manager is now investigating what happened, and what action will be taken.

After going into the store to buy some dishwasher tablets, Luetchford says he was subjected to a tirade of homophobic abuse by one staff member, and that no other staff member intervened.

He wrote: “Basically the BF kissed me on the cheek and woman went ballistic at us saying “how dare you do that here, there are children here, you people are disgusting do that at home you have no right to do that in

“I was like actually we do have a right and I said she didn’t have a right to talk to us like that she started calling us miss and told us to get out and kept going on about children being in the shop.”

He went on to say that no employee would hand over their names, and that “one girl was really rude and insinuated we deserved to be spoken to like that.

“Not a single member of staff blinked an eye.”

Tesco has since tweeted PinkNews, and Mr Luetchford, an actor, to say the incident is being investigated.

He later wrote on Facebook: “We weren’t at all being grotesque or sucking face.

“I found the dishwashing powder we were looking for and my boyfriend held my hand, told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. I should not be called disgusting or be shamed because of that!”

PinkNews has been unable to reach Tesco for an updated comment.