A two-year-old boy was told to take down his hood in a corner shop because of a ban on “hoodies”.

Jay Cowper was wrapped up against the cold in a brown jacket with a furry hood when he went into the shop with his grandfather.

His grandmother Brenda, 54, said: “No sooner had they got inside than the shopkeeper said to my husband, Could you ask the little boy to remove his hood?' My husband said, He's only two-and-a- half, I don't think he's going to rob you'. I don't think he could believe it, and my husband refused to take it down as a matter of principle.”

After the incident, at the Monkton Road Stores in York, Mr Cowper had to drive to another shop with his grandson to buy the cigarettes he had gone out for.

The same shop hit the headlines in November when nurse Lorraine Robinson, 47, was refused her morning paper for wearing a lambswool hooded cardigan.

She vowed to boycott the shop which she had been supporting for 40 years, saying the owner had unjustly tarred her with the same brush as yobs.

Mrs Cowper said: “I can understand their point because a lot of kids cause trouble down there, but when it's a two-year-old it's a bit pathetic and I think most people would just think it's laughable.”

Staff at the store said no one was available to comment.

British people are sheep.