Why did nobody tell this person they were doing it all wrong? It's happened at least twice... and I imagine the confusion caused by trying to interview a four year old would have been slightly greater.

And they couldn't even get him a yellow belt! The bastids.

Everyone, including a 7-year-old, can tell you that you cannot be Superman without the yellow belt! He will be ridiculed and next thing you know he will be on Jerry Springer.

It really isn't as stupid as the press have made it out to be (very irresponsibly too).

The M&S operative had no way of knowing that the child in question was a child without first establishing it.

Now imagine that you had ordered something from a website and then later someone else phoned up to change the order saying that in truth you were 7 and they were your guardian. You'd be pretty livid that this had been allowed, especially in these times of paranoia about identity.

Now consider that The Data Protection Act (which governs the conversation in question) is very severe and applies to the employee more than the employer.

Had the employee not taken this precaution and later it had been found out that the kid wasn't a kid then that employee could have ended up with a fine of several thousand pounds and even a prison sentence.

Suddenly, it's not so foolish.

Really, as far as I'm concerned, having put great efforts into making people adhere to the DPA, the only idiot I can see in this story is the spokesman who later apologised.

His stance should have been to back up the employee for correctly following the law and company policy.

But then that wouldn't have appealed so much to those who like something to tut over whilst drinking their morning coffee.