A mum was 'humiliated' after Aldi refused to sell her beer.
Mum-of-three, Kelly Marsh, said she was left embarrassed and angry after being refused alcohol while shopping in Aldi with her daughters.
The 35-year-old salon owner visited the store in Buckshaw Village for items including toilet roll, tea and Halloween decorations but was left gobsmacked when a cashier told her she couldn’t buy bottles of lager and Newcastle Brown Ale – unless her children also showed ID.
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Staff initially believed that her daughters Courtney, 17, and Bethany, 15, were her friends rather than offspring.
Kelly told LancsLive it was clear that the drinks weren’t for the teenagers and the whole experience left her confused and frustrated.
The disgruntled mum said she was immediately asked for ID before the cashier started scanning and it was then explained that all three would need valid ID to allow the sale.
She said: “I said ‘these two are my children, they don’t have ID. They’re not doing any shopping today, they’re just with me.'”
However a manager alsobacked up the cashier’s decision and as a result Kelly, who lives in Preston, was eventually banned from returning to the store.
She has since complained to Aldi’s head office which has said that the action taken in store was correct.
A spokesperson for the supermarket chain has confirmed that a Challenge 25 policy is in operation at all its UK stores – this also applies to when the alcohol is potentially purchased for others.
Kelly believes that she was treated wrongly and thinks that the policy of requiring ID from all members of a group is unfair.
She claims service was initially refused because the staff didn’t believe she was actually the girls’ mum.
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The shopper said: “I even started to get photographs on my phone, it started to make a bit of a scene because people were staring at us trying to look through my phone."
Speaking of the shopworker, she added: “He was really patronising and kept telling me to stop shouting and I wasn’t raising my voice. He asked me again and I said ‘this is shouting’.
“At that point he said ‘get out, you’re barred.”
An Aldi spokesperson said: “Like all retailers, we operate a Challenge 25 policy at all of our stores, and we apply this to any customers purchasing age-restricted products whether these are for themselves or potentially for others.
"We encourage customers who may appear under this age to carry photo ID if they intend to purchase alcohol.”
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