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Wine gums? ID, please!
By STAFF REPORTER
Published: 22 Oct 2009
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A TEENAGER was told he was too young to buy a pack of WINE GUMS — because they had WINE in them.
Jaz Bhogal, 15, tried to buy the fruity sweets from a town centre branch of 99p Stores — but was warned he needed to be 18 and asked for ID.
Gobsmacked Jaz, of Leverington, Cambs, said: "I couldn't believe it.
"The checkout worker asked how old I was, and when I said I was 15 he said he couldn't sell me the sweets.
"He said they had wine in them and pointed to the word wine on the packet.
Ridiculous
"I was absolutely speechless."
The bungling shop assistant at the nearby Wisbech store forced Jaz to leave the shop empty-handed.
His outraged mum, Sue, 36, said: "I thought Jaz was joking when he came home and told me what had happened.
"It is totally ridiculous and I would have been really cross if I had asked him to buy them for me."
Red-faced 99p Stores bosses have now promised Jaz a gift voucher to spend in the shop — as long as he buys a packet of wine gums.
Graham Barnes, a spokesman for the chain, said the chewy sweets must have been classed as an age-restricted product by mistake on the tills.
He added: "Because the Wisbech store opened fairly recently there seems to have been a very unfortunate glitch.
"We have rectified this and are sure it will not happen again at any of our UK stores."
Wine gums contain no wine but carry the names of alcoholic drinks on them.
The name is thought to come from the fruit flavours that make eating them similar to the experience of savouring a fine wine.
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