A National Lottery player has claimed he was banned from his
local Tesco after staff refused to pay out a winning ticket.
Kevin Layne, 63, had won a £140 prize on a lottery draw just
days ago, but when he went to his local branch of the supermarket to claim his
winnings, he was left "livid".
Layne had popped into the Comberton Hill Tesco Express
in Kidderminster to buy a meal deal and claim his cash, but was
rebuffed when he brought his ticket to the cashier.
"I paid for my food and then she looked at the lottery
ticket and said: 'I can't pay that, it's too much'," he told The Sun.
The 63-year-old continued: "I said it's £140. I said I
put it on here regularly and sometimes I put it on for a month, which is £80. I
also put my phone credit on which makes it £90 - sometimes I've gone in that
shop and paid £100.
"She said you can’t bring that in here," Layne
added, and said an employee had told him he was "barred" - which
Tesco disputes, saying he was asked to leave.
Layne, a plasterer, recalled a £2,000 win about 10 years ago
in which he was allowed to take out £500 of his winnings over the counter.
He said: "That's 10 years ago... And she's telling me
she can't give me £140!
"What she did was, she printed me a ticket out that
says: 'Congratulations for winning but you'll have to try and get paid by
somewhere else.'
"I'm livid by now - I know she’s done it on purpose. I
go in that Tesco regularly, there's always a queue, they have security guards -
it makes a fortune."
Layne added that three senior Tesco staff members all spoke
to him and told him they'd "have to look up" their own lottery
policy.
He said he replied: "Don't mess about - just give me
the money. That was it, I wandered off. Both Tescos. I use them for my
shopping, never again."
A few days later, the 63-year-old visited another Tesco
Express, this time in Birmingham - and when he tried to cash in his ticket
there, the cashier "just handed over the money" without issue.
Layne, who used to live and work in Thailand, said:
"It's a smack in the face," but admitted that his experience hadn't
put him off playing, and jabbed: "There's more things disappointing in
Britain than the lottery."
An Allwyn spokesman said: "National Lottery retailers
are required to pay out up to £100 in prize money, and up to £500 at their own
discretion."
They added: "It really depends on what Tesco's own
policy is with regards to paying out prizes over £100."
