Morrisons issue apology after whisky price blunder offered a bottle of Glenlivet single malt Scotch for just £2.50

Morrisons has been forced to apologise to thousands of customers after they mistakenly priced a single malt Scotch whisky at just £2.50 per bottle online.

The supermarket chain said bottles of The Glenlivet Caribbean Reserve were intended to be reduced from £36 per bottle to £25 per bottle - a saving of £11.

However, a pricing error on the company's website resulted in the offer price being shown as £2.50, and word spread rapidly among whisky lovers.

Thousands went online to snap up the 70cl bottles of the Caribbean rum barrel finished single malt at the reduced price. Customers who added a dozen bottles to their online shopping basket for just £30 received confirmation of their purchase - including a saving of £402.

A screengrab reveals the Morrisons pricing error (top left) on a bottle of Glenlivet single malt whisky Pic: Saltire

But they were left drowning their sorrows after Morrisons spotted the error and cancelled all orders for the Glenlivet with the "sweet, tropical twist", blaming minimum unit pricing for alcohol legislation.

A Morrisons spokesperson said: "This product was temporarily affected yesterday by a pricing error on our website.

"To comply with legislation around minimum unit pricing for alcohol, any orders which included the affected product would have had the item cancelled from their basket. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

A customer services adviser told one disappointed whisky lover there had been "thousands and thousands" of orders for the Glenlivet Caribbean Reserve.

A dram fine deal at just £2.50 a bottle - until the pricing blunder was spotted

He added: "It was an error on our system. Once the head office got wind of what had happened they cancelled all the orders."

Customer services said people who made orders may be offered "some form of compensation", such as a voucher, however.

One whisky drinker who tried to buy 12 bottles of the Glenlivet, said they were told about the cancellation just a few minutes before their collection slot.

He said: "I'm a huge fan of the Glenlivet Caribbean Reserve so when I saw the price, I ordered a dozen bottles without hesitating.

"Obviously it looked too good to be true and it would have cost me £30 and saved me over £400 but I got a confirmation email so I thought I was in luck.

"I was about to set off for my click and collect slot when the cancellation came through. I'm gutted but hopefully I will be compensated."