A DISABLED pensioner was refused service at a Tesco supermarket because she wanted to buy eight cans of lager.

Teetotal Carol King, 61, claims she was told “I can’t serve you” by a shop assistant at Tesco Express in Woodshaw, Wootton Bassett, when she went to pay for the four-packs of Carlsberg.

Mrs King, who is awaiting her fourth hip replacement, said she was left feeling humiliated by the incident and has still not been told why the till operator refused to serve her.

“I have never been so embarrassed,” said Mrs King, of Eveleigh Road, Wootton Bassett.

“I have lived in Bassett nearly 13 years and gone into that shop countless of times to buy lager for my husband.

“It’s not even being refused the sale that has upset me so much as not being given a reason for it. It was humiliating.”

Mrs King was with her 16-year-old daughter Catherine when she visited the shop on May 12, but Tesco said that would not have been reason enough to refuse her service.

A spokesman for the company said: “Thousands of parents go shopping with their children every day. We could not possibly refuse to sell alcohol just because a parent was with their child.

“If staff suspect a customer is buying alcohol for an underage person, they would tell them that.”

Mrs King has received two letters from Tesco about the incident but has yet to hear an apology.

“I will never go back to that shop again,” she said.

“When I asked him why he couldn’t serve me he just said ‘because I can’t’ – what kind of reason is that?

“I want an apology, I don’t think that is unreasonable.”

The spokesman for Tesco, said: “We take our responsibility towards the sale of alcohol very seriously. We operate a strict Think 25 policy, meaning if someone looks under 25 and does not have identification to prove they are over 18, they will not be served alcohol in our stores.

“Additionally, if our staff suspect alcohol is being purchased for an underage person, the sale will also be refused.”