A customer was dealt a surprise when a till told her that the bottle of Pimm’s she was trying to buy would cost more than £50,000.

Dorchester resident Vicki Black was shopping at the Little Waitrose, Poundbury, when she found a bottle of Pimm’s that was reduced in price.

She decided to buy the bottle as her husband enjoys the drink and reckoned the price reduction was a good bargain.

When she went to pay for it, however, the till erroneously stated that the price was a staggering £50,102.62.

She said: “My husband likes Pimm’s and lemonade, so I picked it up.

“When I got to the till, it came back as that (£50,102.62). It drew a bit of a crowd.”

Mrs Black took a picture of the till screen, that shows the extent of the error. The image shows that the scanned item, identified by the machine as “Pimm’s no 1 cup”, would have cost this phenomenal sum on money.

Dorset Echo:

  • The till displayed the wrong price

But everyone saw the funny side of the rogue till display. Mrs Black said that she did not hold any ill will against the store or its staff over the incident, who promptly resolved the issue.

She added the staff and customers who saw the error found the incident amusing.

She said: “I laughed. They were laughing as well.

“Obviously they had to go away and check what it really was.

“It was quite a funny moment. It was just a nice moment when everybody just experienced a moment of laughter together.

“It is a very friendly store. The staff like to have a joke with you.”

She joked that seeing a bottle of alcohol ‘sold’ at such a price made her feel like she was taking part in a wine auction.

A Waitrose & Partners spokesperson said that the price displayed on the till was an error and that the situation was quickly resolved.

They said: “I’m afraid our till wasn’t having a happy hour, our drinks are much better value and we immediately corrected the error.”