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BANNED: Tina Philburn was told she could not feed her baby on the steps of Ashton town hall
BANNED: Tina Philburn was told she could not feed her baby on the steps of Ashton town hall
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Baby feed ban for mum

Sue Carr
21/ 5/2008

A MUM was moved on from Ashton Town Hall steps while bottle feeding her baby.

Tina Philburn sat on the steps in desperation after failing to find a seat which was not surrounded by smokers to feed 11-week-old daughter, Skye.

But she says she was told by a security to "move or be moved".

Tina, 26, had been shopping with husband Ryan when she realised Skye needed a bottle.

"We’d been wandering around for a while but there wasn’t a single place, it was full of people smoking," she said.

"I didn’t want my baby breathing in cigarette smoke so I thought the side of the steps would be a convenient place but within seconds a security guard came over and asked me what I thought I was doing.

"He was standing over me, overshadowing me, and told me to ‘move or be moved’."

Tina, of Crompton Street, Ashton said the guard was insistent, even when she told him she would only be five minutes.

She added: "It’s disgusting that I was spoken to like that. I could understand it if I was some yob and there were 20 of us but I was just trying to feed my baby.

"New mums have a hard enough time as it is and this has knocked my confidence as a mother to go out and feed my child.

"I will come home from now on and feed Skye where I know I will not be shouted at."

A spokesman for Tameside Council said it was a health and safety issue.

"It is important to keep the town hall steps clear at peak times as they are the building’s main evacuation route," he said.

"However, with regard to the allegation that our guard was rude to this person, we can only apologise. We encourage our staff to be polite and courteous at all times."


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Most recent 2 of 2 user comments

   Another thing the Security Guard could have done, if he had any sense was to tell her to come inside and use their facilities, after all isn't this a PUBLIC BUILDING. Mothers can't even breast feed their children in public, this woman was only giving her baby a bottle. The country is going to hell.
SusanM, AZ, Arizona, USA
28/05/2008 at 16:31
   The spokeman was right ..... it WAS a Health and Safety issue !!!!!!

HE WAS PROTECTING THE BABY FROM COMING INTO CONTACT WITH TAMESIDE COUNCILLORS WHO MIGHT BE EXITING THE BUILDING AT ANY TIME !!!!, AFTER ALL, COMING INTO CONTACT WITH THEM COULD HAVE A HARMFUL EFFECT UPON THE POOR CHILDS DEVELOPMENT IN LATER LIFE !!! (you know, Flashbacks, nightmares etc etc) .....

BUT ....

seriously though .....

She was doing no harm whatsoever in being there for a very short while .... what she was though, is an "easy target", you can bet your bottom dollar that if it had have been a gang of kids who had sat down on the steps the Town Hall guard would not have been so quick to come out and move them on !!!!!

I INCREASING FIND THAT COMMONSENSE AND TAMESIDE COUNCIL NEVER SIT HAPPILY SIDE BY SIDE !!!!!!
Dennis the Menace, Hyde
24/05/2008 at 01:27
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