Red-faced bosses at Mothercare have apologised to a young mum after they accidentally locked her in the store – while she was breastfeeding.
Terrified Emma Pearce, 22, was trapped in the store after it closed last Saturday night leaving her stumbling around the shop floor in the pitch black with 10-month-old daughter Holly.
She had dashed into her local store in Kidderminster, Worcs., at 6.45pm – 15 minutes before it closed – and used a private room to breastfeed Holly.
But while she fed her daughter the lights were turned off and she was locked inside.
Emma was stuck in the shop for 20 minutes until staff realised what had happened and unlocked the doors and let her out.
She said: “Nobody said to me that they were closing when I went in.
“All the lights went off and my daughter was petrified of the dark, I had to stumble my way around in the dark and try and find my way out the door.
“My mum was outside and told them I was in there but they said to her they had double checked and there was no-on in the store.
“I think it’s really bad. I was scared for my daughter because she was vomiting all over herself because she was so scared.
“I was scared when they turned the lights off.
“I didn’t know what was happening. I thought ‘uh, oh what do I do?’ When I opened the door everything was dark.
“At one stage I thought I might have to use the bedding in the shop and sleep in one of the cots with Holly. It felt much longer than 20 minutes.”
The store has now apologised to Emma and given her a £25 voucher as compensation.
A spokeswoman said: “At Mothercare we pride ourselves on caring for parents and providing the best facilities for our customers.
“The incident is an isolated case and Mothercare has apologised to the customer and offered her a gesture of goodwill.”
