SHOP staff refused to sell a fizzy drink to friends of a terrified diabetic schoolgirl to stop her falling ill.

Pals begged convenience store workers for help as Cayla McQuaide’s blood sugar levels plummeted and she suffered an attack.

But One-Stop would not serve the teenagers because they were wearing the uniform of Toynbee School, whose pupils have been banned from the shop in Bournemouth Road, Chandler’s Ford.

They even declined to sell the drink to an assistant from the next door butcher’s because they knew he was buying it for the schoolgirls.

Now company bosses have launched an investigation and say they are considering lifting the ban.

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Cayla said: “I always walk home from school but this day I started to feel really shaky and dizzy and I knew I needed to have a soft drink.

“I was just by the shop and my friends tried to explain to the people there that I was a diabetic but they wouldn’t serve us.

“It started to get worse and I was scared. A man from the butcher’s shop tried to buy one for me but they refused to serve him because they knew he was buying it for us.

“We had to go to a friend’s house ten minutes away so I could get a drink. My friends had to help me because I couldn’t walk on my own by the time we got there because I was too dizzy.”

Cayla of Valley Park, Chandler’s Ford, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes two years ago and normally carries tablets to give her a boost of sugar when she needs it, but didn’t have any left on the hot afternoon.

Cayla’s dad Michael said: “I’m outraged that this could happen. They ban a whole school and then turn away a girl who needs help.

“People with this kind of diabetes can be hospitalised, go into a coma or even die if they don’t get help.”

Toynbee School head teacher Matthew Longden said: “I have been in talks with the shop about banning our pupils before this. I am very concerned about this latest incident.”

The store refused to comment but a spokesman for the firm said: “We are investigating this complaint. We always try to take a common sense approach but if we got it wrong on this occasion, we will of course apologise.”