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Costa Coffee staff 'refused to sell sandwich' to commuter buying it for homeless man

The Costa Coffee staff were seen refusing the sale (Picture: Twitter)
The Costa Coffee staff were seen refusing the sale (Picture: Twitter)

A man has claimed that he was stopped from buying food for a homeless person at Costa Coffee, after staff claimed they would be prosecuted for selling it to him.

Adrian Pinsent, a 40-year-old cameraman, was at Waterloo Station on Monday night when he stopped at the coffee chain to buy a drink and a sandwich for a homeless man outside.

But after taking the man into the shop to choose what he wanted, Adrian claims that Costa staff stopped him from purchasing it because it was against their ‘policy’.

Mr Pinsent also claims that he was refused service when he subsequently told staff that the food was for himself.

Footage of the incident shows staff apologising to Mr Pinsent as they appear to refuse the sale.

‘We cannot. If we do that we will get prosecuted. It is not from [Costa policy], it is from the security at the station and the police’, a man says in the footage.

Eventually, Mr Pinsent claims that he slammed the money on the counter and took the food after being refused service by another member of staff.

‘I had to get the last train so when I put the money down I gave him the food’, he later told MailOnline.

‘[The staff] didn’t speak to him, but he did ask me ‘what about your change’ as I left, and I said forget about it as I had to get last train. He then went to the counter, but I don’t know what was said. He seemed concerned for me, and not about getting my change, I want to emphasise that.

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‘Until that point none of the staff spoke to him.’

Network Rail and Costa Coffee have both subsequently confirmed that they do not have a policy that restricts the purchasing of food for homeless people.

‘We do not have a policy that restricts customers purchasing food for anyone who is homeless’, a Costa spokesman said.

‘We believe the store was given misinformation, which has now been corrected.’