Home Lifestyle Parenting

Mum told to leave department store after toddler had tantrum

“He said to me ‘I’m afraid we’ve had a complaint, you will have to leave.'"

Lindsay Robinson ©Manchester Evening News

A humiliated mum was asked to leave a British department store after her 16-month-old daughter has a melt-down reports The Sun.

The toddler, Heidi, is learning to walk, and her mother was trying to carry her causing the toddler to throw a tantrum.

Heidi’s mum, Lindsay Robinson, was doing her best to placate the youngster in the busy John Lewis store in Manchester when a staff member approached her and allegedly asked her to leave the store.

Lindsay, 36, claims she was escorted so swiftly that she had to abandon the items she was going to buy.

“He said to me ‘I’m afraid we’ve had a complaint, you will have to leave,’ – I was shocked,” the embarrassed mum said.

“I dropped a key ring and rucksack for Heidi that I was about to buy and this staff member escorted us out of the store.

“I said to my friend, who was shopping with me ‘did that really happen’?”

Lindsay later made a formal complaint and the company sent an apology and a £20 voucher which the mum found to be insufficient solace for her humiliation.

“I called customer services and someone did call me back. They apologised and said the member of staff’s behaviour was out of order. They said they would send a £20 voucher as an apology. I don’t think I will be going back to that store.

“I am not interested in any voucher or money. My point is that when shops see a mother trying to deal with a child having a tantrum they should cut them a bit of slack. I was made to feel like a rubbish mum.

“It was very embarrassing, everyone was looking at me.”

Related stories


Unwind and relax with your favourite magazine!

Huge savings plus FREE home delivery