An angry Wells man is taking on the might of Tesco to clear his son's name.

Gareth Collins, of Besley Court, says an automated till in a Tesco store swallowed a £20 note and did not register it.

When he asked staff to check the machine, managers were adamant their machines did not make mistakes, and refused to give him his money back.

When Gareth's father Shaun found out he returned to the store to demand the money back and hand in a stiff letter.

He asked to see CCTV footage but was refused.

He said: "The security guard said I had to go – he said they had called the police because I had threatened them – I did not threaten them."

Shaun has vowed to fight until his son's name is cleared and they both receive an apology – and he wants his £20 back.

"They branded my son a liar and a thief – he is neither and I am determined to see justice done and clear his name," said Shaun.

Anyone captured on CCTV has a right to a copy of the film so Shaun, aged 51, asked a solicitor to apply to Tesco's data protection records office for a copy of the footage taken in the Shepton Mallet store.

The Journal has seen a copy of the footage which shows Gareth and his friend Stuart Moore approaching one of the automated tills each carrying a basket of shopping.

Gareth puts his shopping through the till and gets a note out of his pocket.

He said: "The note had got a bit creased in my pocket so I smoothed it out and slotted it in, but nothing happened.

"A message came up saying 'problem with money'."

He waits and looks puzzled when nothing happens.

The footage shows him looking at the till and studying it and then various members of staff come up to assist – opening it up and checking it and looking inside.

It shows the first assistant clearly looking into the open till and pointing to something at the bottom.

"She said then she thought she could see something jammed – but later she said she hadn't," said Gareth.

During 30 minutes of footage Gareth looks increasingly puzzled and exasperated.

Stuart gets fed up waiting and goes to another till before going to wait outside.

Gareth said: "I thought it had just jammed somewhere and they would just unjam it and it would go through.

"They kept saying I could not have put any money in – I kept saying I had. I was quite calm until the supervisor called me a liar.

"They were all saying I could not possibly have put any money in as it was not showing up.

"I said the CCTV would show me putting in the money – but they said you could not see the till on the CCTV.

"They were branding me a liar and a thief – then they took my shopping away and I realised I would not be getting my shopping let alone my change from the £20 note I had put in for just £8.90 worth of shopping."

Store manager Stewart Collins said: "I declined to help them and contacted the police after the father threatened me and my staff.

"We have viewed the CCTV footage and there is something odd about it – if anything was put into that till I would be surprised and we didn't find anything.

"If it had got jammed there would be the evidence needed – but there was nothing jammed. If it had gone through it would have registered.

"We have no evidence to support their complaint."