ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

A woman has claimed she was told McDonalds "do not serve homeless people" when she tried to buy a meal for an elderly man.

Staff told Charlotte Farrow that they could not serve the homeless under a "new policy", the 19-year-old alleged.

She had reportedly decided to buy breakfast for an elderly homeless man after spotting him nearby a branch in Manchester.

"We queued up and the homeless guy tried to get some money out before I told him I was paying," she told the Manchester Evening News.

"Then the supervisor said ‘we don’t serve homeless people’. He said the business manager told them they weren’t allowed to serve homeless people. They said it was a new policy."

McDonalds denied any policy not to serve the homeless had been introduced and blamed the incident on a miscommunication.

A spokesman told the Manchester Evening News that CCTV also showed the man in question had been served at the Oxford Road branch before Charlotte went in.

He added: "Both the customer and the gentleman she was buying food for were served. It is not a McDonald’s policy to refuse to serve homeless people and all staff have been reminded of this."