AN OSWESTRY mum has accused Morrisons supermarket of "lacking common sense" after an employee confiscated alcohol she was buying with her 22-year-old son who has Down's syndrome.

Nicola West, a former teacher, was shopping with her son at the Shrewsbury Road store last week and was teaching him life skills by letting him load and pay for the items, including alcohol.

She said her son, whose name she did not want to give, enjoys shopping three to four times a week but admitted he was left upset when an employee asked for ID, despite his mother paying for the items.

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Nicola said the alcohol was taken away and she was also barred from buying the booze, much to her shock and disgust.

“He looks forward to going shopping, perhaps not so much after today’s palaver,” she said.

“We collected our groceries which included some beer and wine and made our way to the checkout.

“I intended to pay, as usual, with my debit card, and he likes to tap the contactless card onto the debit card holder.

“As soon as he swiped the card reader, an employee came over and asked for ID as he was buying alcohol, to which I told her that ‘it’s not for him, but just a bit of life skills training, it’s my card we’re using'.

“The employee then started to take the alcohol away and say that if you can’t provide ID, you can’t have the alcohol.

“Dumbfounded and nearly lost for words I said, why did you stand by and not mention or challenge any of this while you stood there watching on?

“If you were expecting him to pay, you could have easily said prior to him swiping card reader that he would have to show ID.”

Nicola added that she spoke to the store manager who said that ID was requested to tackle underage drinking.

She added: “Why would I be so open I implicating myself even though I wasn’t as he is 22.

“Obviously, the situation was that I was in the process of buying some goods - with a little help from my son - of which there was an amount of beer and wine, the goods were being charged to my account, via my debit card.

“I find it incredible that common sense appears to be absent from someone in a managerial position of a national retail chain.”

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A spokesman for Morrisons said: “Our colleagues will ask anyone attempting to buy alcohol who looks under 25 to prove their age. 

“Our rigorous "Challenge 25" scheme and the clear information we display on labels underpins our commitment to responsible retailing. 

“On this occasion, our team believed the customer looked under the age of 25 and so followed our company policy – we're sorry that this caused an upsetting experience in store."