househusband Richard Sierbien is celebrating after a ban that stopped him shopping at his local grocers was lifted.

The former printer was barred from shopping at United Co-op at East Parade, York, after a misunderstanding over a packet of biscuits.

Mr Sierbien, 40, of Poplar Tree Gardens, Sixth Avenue, Tang Hall, York, said staff at the store had a "village mentality" and unfairly black-listed him after falsely accusing him of stealing the goods.

But after the Evening Press spoke to representatives of the food chain, managers have agreed to lift the ban and to allow him back into the store.

Mr Sierbien, who has four children aged between seven and 14, said he was hurt by false accusations of shoplifting after moving to Tang Hall from the Bell Farm Avenue area, off Huntington Road.

He said: "People see you and even though they do not really know you, they just judge you by how you look.

"Maybe they're discriminating against me because I come from Bell Farm, or maybe because they do not like the look of me."

He added: "For the past two months I have not even been able to go to the grocers with my kids and buy them sweets. This is not a fair decision, it's an infringement of my civil rights."

Company spokeswoman Janette Shingler agreed Mr Sierbien had been mistakenly accused of shoplifting in March.

She said CCTV footage had since cleared him and staff had apologised.

She said Mr Sierbien had been seen to leave the store with a packet of biscuits by a customer who alerted a member of staff. Investigations revealed that he had already paid for them.

But she added that it was his conduct during the incident, which included threatening behaviour and bad language, that resulted in the ban, which was made for the safety of staff.

She said that managers at the store now planned to lift the ban, following a complaint and subsequent investigation by the customer services department.

Updated: 10:21 Thursday, May 22, 2003