Woman wrongly accused boyfriend of having affair after Tesco added condoms to their online shopping list

Believing the only logical explanation to be that her partner was having an affair, devastated Lynn confronted Andy Allott and prepared to cancel a dream holiday to Mexico and end their four-year relationship.

She accused Andy of having a secret fling and refused to believe his denial, claiming the evidence was on screen in black and white.

The box of 12 Mates condoms had shown up at the top of a list of Lynn's recent purchases made with the supermarket chain's loyalty card.

Condom gaffe: Lynn Newby and her partner of four years Andy Allott almost split up over Tesco's mistake

However, the retail giant has now admitted the condoms were never ordered and has apologised for almost splitting the pair up.

Building manager Lynn, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, said: "I couldn't believe what I saw when I logged onto my Tesco account.

"It gives a list of everything bought on a ClubCard and there at the top of the list was a packet of Mates condoms.

"I knew I hadn't bought them so I went in and accused Andy, who had not idea what I was talking about."

Unable to contact Tesco immediately, Lynn,40, said she didn not sleep that night.

"By the next morning there was a terrible atmosphere between us and we just avoided each other," she said.

Bewildered by the phantom purchase, Lynn even rang her 65-year-old mother to see if she knew anything about it.

"I was so uptight and upset I rang my mother, asking her if she had bought any condoms, it was completely ridiculous.

"Despite his denials I still didn't believe Andy's denials and we almost cancelled our holiday because of it."

Later that morning Lynn checked her online account again and found that the condoms had been removed from the list.

She admitted: "By this time I was totally irrational and even accused Andy of deleting the item."

But shortly afterwards a friend from work who Lynn had told about the problem rang to say she had found a £7.10 pack of condoms on her Tesco shopping list and so had a member of the supermarket's staff.

After being contacted by Lynn, Tesco promised to investigate the matter and she eventually received a letter of apology from Chief Executive Sir Terry Leahy, and a cheque for £100.

Sir Terry told Lynn he could appreciate how distressing it had been for her and an investigation had revealed that the problem was caused by a new member of staff in the marketing department who input a promotion incorrectly.

He wrote: "This error was completely unacceptable," adding that staff were being given further training as  Sir Terry and staff are being given further training " as a matter of urgency".

Lynn said: "I am pleased that I got an apology and it certainly wasn't about the money.

"Things are fine now and we can laugh about it but I just wonder how many other people had to deal with this mistake which could have cost me my relationship."

Partner Andy, 29, a call centre manager said: "At the time it was a complete nightmare.

"Lynn came storming in as I was watching television and accused me of something I had absolutely no knowledge of."

A spokesman for Tesco said: "We are very sorry for any upset caused. Due to human error, the product was added to the customer's favourites item by mistake.  This was completely unacceptable and staff retraining has been carried out to ensure that this situation cannot be repeated.

"Our chief executive has personally written to the customer to apologise and offered £100 as a gesture of goodwill."