Not happy: Tesco refused to sell Liam Whelan, 15, a packet of teaspoons (Picture: MEN)

Showing your ID to buy alcohol is one thing – but one boy was shocked to find he was too young to purchase teaspoons.

Liam Whelan, 16, left Tesco in Haslingden, Lancashire, empty-handed after a staff member told him he needed to be 18.

The college student said he felt ‘embarrassed’ and had to do a ‘walk of shame’ after being refused the teaspoons, the Rossendale Free Press reports.

‘I went over to the self-service till and scanned the teaspoons and the machine wouldn’t let me pay,’ he explained.


Tesco apologised for the incident (Picture: PA)

‘A member of staff came over and asked how old I was, I showed him my moped licence but he said that I needed to be 18



‘It was embarrassing buying teaspoons but to get refused was even worse.’

He added: ‘It was horrible, everybody was watching. I had to do the walk of shame out leaving without any teaspoons. I just left them there I didn’t put them back. It was just embarrassing.’

A Tesco spokesman said: ‘We do include a till prompt for proof of age on our self-service tills for some items.

‘We ask our colleagues to use their judgment as to whether this should be applied. In this instance this was not followed and we apologise to our customer for any inconvenience caused.’