Tesco has run into trouble after offering mountain bikes on its Tesco Direct website – for just a pound each.

News of the pricing gaffe quickly hit website HotUKDeals, which urged members to snap up “the best deal ever!”

Shopper Denis Davies spotted the bargain price and quickly snapped up five bikes to donate to a local charity.  The cash left his account – and he received an email confirming his order, with instructions on when he could collect the bikes from his local store.

But Tesco later emailed Davies to say it would not honour the deal because of a “pricing error” on its website.

“I spotted the amazing deal during my lunch break earlier today and just thought it was an incredible offer,” said a disappointed Davies.

“There are a couple of children’s charities that I know in the Reading area, and thought I would surprise them with five new bikes! After buying them I called the Tesco Direct helpline, and they said that there was a fault with the website and that I would be contacted soon.”

“Within minutes I received an email alerting me to the error. Everyone makes mistakes, but at the end of the day they took the money out of my account – so surely they need to honour the agreement? If Tesco want to apologise to me by giving some bikes to some local charities, that would be great.”

Tesco said: “Unfortunately this was an IT error, which has now been corrected. We apologise sincerely to affected customers for any inconvenience caused.”

The pricing error follows a similar occurrence in March, when Tesco Direct offered a brand new iPad 3 for just £49.99. It sold hundreds but later refused to honour the deals.

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