A supermarket has recognised the bravery of a family who stopped a shoplifter as he tried to escape through their garden.

The thief crashed through the fence of the family's home, in Hamilton, and as way of saying thanks, the local Tesco offered to pay the repair bill.

However, Andrew Poulton, from Hamilton, was not entirely happy with the response from staff at his local Tesco because it took almost two months and repeated phone calls before the retail giant fulfilled its promise.

The company has now apologised for the delay.

Mr Poulton's 14-year-old son, Thomas, was playing in the front garden of their home on June 30, when he spotted the shoplifter, who was running from a Tesco security guard.

The teenager attempted to jump on him until the security guard caught up, and managed to remove a backpack containing stolen gym equipment and protein supplements taken from the store.

The fence in their front garden was badly damaged during the scuffle that ensued between the three of them. The shoplifter managed to escape but left his bag behind.

Thomas said he heard the man running down the side of his neighbour's house before jumping on to his garden fence.

He said: "I'm not sure why because he was bigger than me but I just decided to grab his bag.

"The fence then smashed as he was on it and then the security guard came and caught up with him.

"We managed to pull the bag off his shoulders but then he ran away.

"It all happened really fast and he was off."

After complaining to the shop about the damage to his property, Mr Poulton, 34, said the supermarket agreed to pay for the repairs as a way of saying thank you.

He said the supermarket had still not paid two months later.

On Wednesday, he told the local branch he was going to talk to the Mercury.

A few hours later, he had a call from the branch saying his £450 cheque was ready for him.

He said: "I complained to the store about my fence and they said they would pay the costs of getting it repaired, but then I heard nothing for weeks.

"I let them know I would be calling the Mercury. A few hours later, I got a call saying I could go and pick up my cheque. Although I've got the money for the fence now, I'm very upset about the way they dealt with it."

A Tesco spokesperson said: "By way of a thank-you we paid to repair the damaged fence. We apologise for the time it took to resolve this issue."