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A Superstore has apologised to a teenager after it refused to sell him teaspoons, claiming he was ‘too young’.

Liam Whelan, 16, of Deardengate visited Tesco in Haslingden on Thursday, February 27 to pick up teaspoons and was told by a member of staff that he needed to be 18 to purchase them.

A stunned Liam said: “I went over to the self service till and scanned the teaspoons and the machine wouldn’t let me pay.

“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.”

Liam, who is currently studying at Burnley College and is aspiring to become a police officer, said he felt ‘embarrassed’ by the whole ordeal.

He said: “It was embarrassing enough buying teaspoons, but to get refused was even worse. I wasn’t with anyone but the supermarket was busy and I did know some of the other customers.”

Liam’s step-mum Yvette Whelan, who runs Deardengate Dry Cleaners in Haslingden, said she ‘couldn’t believe it’ when the teen returned home empty-handed.

She said: “I’d asked Liam to go round and pick up some teaspoons because he and his brother lose them. When he said they wouldn’t serve him because he wasn’t 18, I just couldn’t believe it. How silly, he had his moped licence on him but as he is 16 they wouldn’t serve him.”

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.”