A father is furious after being refused Lottery tickets at a supermarket – because it might encourage his eight-year-old son to gamble.
Trevor Haimes, 37, and son Zak had just finished their weekly shop at Asda when they went to buy lucky dip tickets at the kiosk.
Zak then stepped forward and asked for the tickets but the cashier turned him down on the grounds of his age.
But when Trevor then tried to buy them he was also turned down – because he could hand them straight to Zak and encourage him to gamble.
Trevor was so furious he handed his entire £50 trolley of goods back and demanded a refund.
He stormed: “Initially I thought they were joking but then they said they couldn’t serve me the woman said I was teaching my son to gamble.
“I said that I’d taken him down the beer aisle and now I was taking him to a tobacconist to get a lottery ticket, so was I teaching him to drink and smoke? It’s madness.
“They obviously weren’t for him.”
The furious dad even asked Zac to go and stand in the entrance of the store, in Frome, Somerset, and again asked for tickets, but was once more refused.
Eventually he asked for a refund on his shopping, which came to about £50.
Trevor said: “When she said, sarcastically, ‘Have a nice day sir, thank you’, I thought I’m not having this and asked for a refund on my shopping.
“It was the shame and embarrassment, really. It’s absurd.”
The pair then went to other stores across Wiltshire to buy lottery tickets and had no problems being served, despite Zak asking for them.
“We went to Sainsbury’s, Asda in Trowbridge and a petrol station. Zak asked for the tickets and we got served each time, ” added Trevor.
Trevor complained to Asda but the firm has backed its staff, saying they are following guidelines which ban the sale of tickets to anyone under 16.
An Asda spokesman said: “We’re committed to following legislation around National Lottery sales.”
