EXCLUSIVE By Tom Jackson A TEENAGER was left speechless after being told he was too young to buy a packet of wine gums from the new 99p Store in Wisbech. Fifteen-year-old Jaz Bhogal bought the sweets from the town centre store, only to be called back and

EXCLUSIVE

By Tom Jackson

A TEENAGER was left speechless after being told he was too young to buy a packet of wine gums from the new 99p Store in Wisbech.

Fifteen-year-old Jaz Bhogal bought the sweets from the town centre store, only to be called back and told he needed to be 18 to purchase them.

Jaz, of Leverington, visited the store on October 10 with a friend and bought the sweets. But he was called back by the checkout worker who served him.

"He asked me how old I was and when I said I was 15 he said he couldn't sell me the sweets," said Jaz.

"He said they had wine in them and pointed to the word wine on the packet. I was speechless."

Jaz was made to hand over the packet of sweets and given a 99p refund.

His mum, Sue, said: "I thought Jaz was joking with me when he came home and told me what had happened. It is ridiculous and I would have been really cross if I had asked him to buy them for me."

But after the Wisbech Standard raised the problem this week, the firm immediately realised their mistake.

They promised Jaz a nine-item voucher to spend in the store - with the condition that one of the items he buys is a packet of wine gums.

Bosses are now investigating how wine gums were classed as an item prohibited for under-18s, but said it could have been mistakenly entered into software when it opened.

Graham Barnes, 99p Stores spokesman, said: "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.

"To show that we have a good sense of humour we would like to offer Jaz a nine-item voucher to spend in the store on condition that at least one of these products are wine gums."

Wine gums contain no wine but carry the names of alcoholic drinks on them. An extract on the Wikipedia website says the name comes from the fruit flavours that make eating them "similar to the experience of savouring a fine wine".