Tesco store takes champagne off shelves because people are stealing it

We all know the feeling – when you suddenly decide you really fancy a bottle of champagne one evening, and you need to nip round the corner to Tesco to pick some up.

(Ok, I don’t, but perhaps some people do.)

Anyway, if you so happened to pop to the Burnley, Lancashire branch of the supermarket, you won’t find any bubbly.

Instead, you’ll find… photos of the champagne where it used to stand on the shelves, and a security guard watching you just in case you try any funny business.

Staff have removed bottles of Veuve Clicquot, Moet and Bollinger, and customers must now take one of the images to the till for someone to retrieve it from the stockroom.

Apparently it comes after a spate of thefts at the store.

The posh fizz sells for up to £52 a bottle.

One shop worker said: ‘It’s getting totally out of hand.

‘They come in and hide the bottles in their clothes and then leg it. It’s a security issue.

‘Customers have to take the photo of the bottle they want to the checkout and they will go and get them one.

‘It’s crazy.’

A Tesco spokesperson said: ‘We’ve introduced some extra security measures on a few items at our Burnley store after some recent thefts.’

Security staff now stand in the booze aisle around the clock.

Might be worth remembering next time you go out to buy a bottle of bubbly.