A WOMAN is calling for Tesco to apologise after her Black disabled brother was falsely accused of shoplifting in an ordeal which caused their mother to have a panic attack.

The Lazar family from Brighton Hill visited the supermarket on Sunday afternoon to buy food for a barbecue when security surrounded Marian as he tried to exit the Oakridge Road store.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We are sorry to learn of any upset caused to the family. One member of the group was spoken to when leaving the store by our fully trained security guard and the group were subsequently asked to leave the store. They were not prevented from leaving at any time.”

The 33-year-old driver, from South Ham, was holding his two-year-old niece when Tesco employees blocked his way and accused them of hiding meat underneath their clothes.

He told The Gazette: "The manager and employees asked me to show them what we had under our clothes. I was really shocked, I couldn't believe what was happening but I did what they told me to do.

“They blocked the exit doors, stood in front of them, called out for another three to four people and practically surrounded us and held us against our will.”

At the same time as Marian was being accosted, his sister Vasilica was at the till with her mother Dora paying for their items.

She heard the commotion and came running over. The family claim they were insulted and allege Marian, who suffers with the inflammatory disease polymyositis, was told he "didn't know English".

At the same time, their 57-year-old mother started having a panic attack after worrying about what would happen to her disabled son.

Vasilica claimed she called the police and was asked to put the store manager on the phone, who disappeared into a separate room.

A spokesman for Hampshire Constabulary said the Lazar family were refusing to leave the store and they were called to reports of members of the public being verbally abusive to staff.

"We were called at 5.14pm on 5 July from an alarm within the Tesco store on Oakridge Road, Basingstoke.

"It was reported that members of the public were refusing to leave the store and being verbally abusive toward staff members. We were unable to deploy to this due to resourcing."

The family, however, insist that they were being held against their will over false shoplifting allegations.

Vasilica said: "My mother was shaking and having difficulties breathing. I was very upset and angry, and it was so sad to see my mother afraid for her son."

Marian alleged: “The store manager kept insulting me and told me that I didn’t know English, I was not supposed to be in the store."

He said: “A female police officer to whom my sister was speaking to on the phone asked to talk with the store manager and he took her phone and went into a different room to speak.

“The manager returned after the phone call and yelled at us to get out of the store as he didn’t want us there because we didn’t belong.”

Marian said he feels he was judged on his skin colour and the fact he does not speak "good" English.

He said they had no evidence to show they had stolen anything.

He said: “I was mentally abused and discriminated against due to my skin colour. It was strictly their supposition based on the colour of my skin, the fact I didn’t speak English well and have a disability."

Mother-of-one Vasilica said the ordeal has shaken up her family said she would like an apology from Tesco, over the incident.

She said: “I want the store manager and employees to apologise for the way they treated my brother based on the colour of his skin."

The family later had to call for an ambulance for Dora as she was left breathless and shaken.