Gay couple abused by Tesco cashier after kiss on the cheek

Steve Luetchford, 28, and partner Mattia Pievani, 25, were at the receiving end of a Tesco cashier’s homophobic tirade after a peck on the cheek, the Evening Standard reported.

The pair were shopping at a Tesco in Acre Lane, Brixton on Thursday. When Pievani gave Luetchford a kiss on the cheek, a female cashier began verbally abusing them.

“My partner held my hand and gave me a kiss and then suddenly we heard this lady shouting, saying we could not do that here, that we should be ashamed of ourselves and we should get out,” Luetchford told the Standard. “She was quite rude and dismissive to us. We told her she had no right to talk to us like that, and she responded ‘you people have no right’.”

After complaining to another member of staff, the couple were allegedly laughed at by two more staff, who refused to refer to them to the store manager.

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Luetchford has since filed a complaint with Tesco. A spokeswoman for the supermarket chain said the incident was being investigated.

She said, “Everyone is welcome at Tesco so we take any allegations of discrimination extremely seriously. Our Brixton Store Manager is looking into the incident and our customer service team, who are in contact with Mr Luetchford, will update him as soon as they can.”

According to an ITV report from earlier today, the store manager has rung Luetchford to apologise for what happened. But Luetchford is hoping for more – perhaps more training for staff to prevent such incidents in the future.

“I’m not expecting to ruin anyone’s lives or anything like that,” he told ITV. “But at the same time, I don’t want someone to get a slap on the wrist and think it’s OK to do that to another person.”

Watch an ITV report on this incident here.