Boy, 3, refused store staff toilet

A boy desperate to use the toilet was banned from using a store's staff toilets - because it was against the company's heath and safety rules.Little Luke Spencer, three, was caught short at QD stores in St Stephen's, Norwich, which does not have any customer toilets.

A boy desperate to use the toilet was banned from using a store's staff toilets - because it was against the company's heath and safety rules.

Little Luke Spencer, three, was caught short at QD stores in St Stephen's, Norwich, which does not have any customer toilets.

His mother Lisa Spencer pleaded with the store's management to let him use the staff toilets, but he was told he could not because he might slip or fall.

The embarrassed youngster finally had to relieve himself - with his back turned to traffic - on the pavement outside the shop.

Luke's grandfather Derek Richardson, 69, a retired office worker, was so angry he wrote a letter of complaint to QD Stores managing director Justin Farrington-Smyth.

Mr Richardson, from Godfrey Road, Spixworth, said: “I was incensed by the sheer stupidity and lack of common sense shown by the store management and felt it my duty to write and complain.

“Luke has only recently been successfully weaned off nappies, and given his young age, when he requires the toilet, he requires it now.

“The little lad made plain to his mother he needed a 'wee wee' but they were told there were no public toilets, and he was not allowed access to the staff facilities.”

Mr Farrington-Smyth, who is based at Anglia Square, confirmed that staff had to follow health and safety guide-lines that don't allow customers into staff areas, and added that the facilities at St Stephen's were up three flights of stairs, anyway.