A father has reached out on social media after a Muslim shop assistant working at Tesco refused to sell him a bottle of wine due to her ‘religious beliefs’.
Lee Saunders was trying to buy the rosé wine at a supermarket in Feltham, Middlesex, when he was asked to go to another till by the worker, who was aged in her 20s and wearing a headscarf.
He was eventually served by a duty manager but criticised the supermarket giant for putting a member of staff in that position.
Mr Saunders, 35, said he was ‘miffed and baffled’ by the incident.
He said: ‘If you apply for a job surely you’ve got to be able to do everything within the boundaries of that job.’
Mr Saunders had been at the shop to buy the £4 wine along with LED lights and an Xbox FIFA 17 game for his son, with the total coming to £55.
He added: ‘It should have been made clear if they can’t serve you certain items. There were no warnings or signs.
‘She apologised afterwards, but she’s been put in that position. It’s not entirely her fault to be fair.’
A Tesco spokesperson apologised for the incident and said staff did all they could to resolve the situation.
The spokesman said: ‘We take a pragmatic approach if a colleague raises concerns about a job they have been asked to do. We apologise to our customer for any inconvenience caused on this occasion.’
The store confirmed the member of staff worked on a kiosk where alcohol is ‘generally not purchased’ and would request another colleague’s help if the situation arose again in the future.
