A man who won a £100 Lidl voucher in a Christmas giveaway believes a thief stole his prize by taking a photo of the QR code as he held it aloft.
Oliver Vincent won the prize as part of the supermarket giant’s festive giveaway involving their Lidl cola lorry.
The 42-year-old was told to wave the golden ticket voucher in front of the cheering crowd.
But he claims a thief then took a quick snap of the QR code and rushed off to use it.
Oliver, a full-time carer, only realised when he got home and went to redeem the voucher online that it had already been spent.
He had planned to use the money on his five-year-old son’s Christmas present as well as a food hamper.
He returned to the Lidl truck in Bournemouth town centre and spoke with a manager but claimed she said he was the only person it had happened to and he should contact head office.
Thankfully, Lidl has said its customer care team is in touch with Oliver to provide him with a new voucher.
The supermarket said it had not received any similar concerns about QR codes being stolen and said it was probably down to an ‘error with the code’.
A spokesperson for Lidl said: ‘We can confirm that our customer care team immediately looked into this as soon as it was brought to their attention.
‘Whilst we’ve not had any similar concerns raised, we believe it to be an error with the code.
‘As such, our customer care team are in contact with the customer to provide a new voucher.’
Oliver queued for two hours for the red Lidl Freeway cola truck to be in with a chance of getting one of the 25 £100 vouchers.
He said: ‘After I got it the security guard said get it out and wave it around in a celebratory way, not knowing what it was, a QR code for all to see.
‘I had my five-year-old son in one arm and the voucher in the other. He was absolutely buzzing.’
He claimed: ‘There were people swarming around and somebody must have taken a photograph of it when it was out in the open.
‘I went home to download the Lidl app to redeem the voucher, but then I found out that it had already been claimed.’
Oliver added: ‘It would have been spent on Christmas meat, Christmas items, a box of Hot Wheels for my boy. He was very upset when we learned the money had gone.
‘Lidl should have put the golden ticket in an envelope, but it was just on display for all to see. This £100 would have meant we could treat ourselves a little bit more.’
A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: ‘We received a report relating to the theft of a voucher worth £100 that was believed to have occurred in the area of The Triangle in Bournemouth.
‘Enquiries into the matter are ongoing. No arrests have been made.’
The Lidl cola lorry is a tongue-in-cheek version of the famous Coca-Cola Christmas truck that tours the country.
The Lidl one is visiting nine towns and cities and gives away 250 giftboxes to people on a first come first served basis.
Twenty-five of the boxes contain the £100 golden tickets.