A mum-of-three was booted out of a McDonald’s restaurant by three burly security guards for feeding her baby son – a JACKET POTATO.
Charlene Overs, 26, had bought her 10-month-old son Frankie the healthy lunch before getting older brother Blake, 5, a £3.40 Happy Meal as a treat.
But when she sat down and began feeding the hungry tot she says an angry member of staff marched over and told her she was breaking restaurant rules.
Shocked Charlene says staff at the fast food chain in Perry Barr, Birmingham, even fetched THREE security guards to escort them off the premises.
She was then forced to make a humiliating exit as she was marched from the packed store with her son crying in her arms.
The single mum, from Hall Green, Birmingham, is now demanding an apology from the fast food giant following her “degrading” ordeal.
Charlene fumed: “I had bought myself a drink and a Happy Meal for Blake and sat down to feed Frankie.
“When I had just started feeding him a staff member marched over and barked at me that I couldn’t do that.
“I said that he was too young to eat a burger and that I and my other son had bought McDonalds stuff, but she just said we couldn’t eat anything that was not from them.
“She said it would have been fine if it was food from a jar, but Frankie doesn’t like jar food, so what was I supposed to do – feed him a Big Mac?
“She walked off and a few minutes later two security guards arrived.
“They said I had been told to get out, I said that I hadn’t and that she’d just told me I couldn’t feed Frankie.
“Then the head of security arrived as well, it was so humiliating, there were so many people in the restaurant.
“He said to me ‘I hear we have a problem here’ and I said I didn’t know there was one.
“He said the manager told him I was refusing to leave the store and pointed over at the woman who came and told us off.
“I hadn’t refused to do anything, I had just tried to feed my baby and cause no trouble.
“The head of security said it was like bringing a KFC in here and eating it.
“He said they didn’t have a licence for me to eat other food in the store.
“But I explained that it was not rival food, it’s a #2.50 jacket potato from a stall outside and that’s not the same at all.
“I understand their rule about not letting customers eat food bought from places like KFC or Burger King, but this was a jacket potato for my baby.
“If it’s okay to feed my baby food from a jar, then why not a jacket potato?
“They said I still had to leave so I packed up and left – but I was still marched to the front door.
“It was shocking and degrading and I felt very humiliated.”
The sociology student says she was disgusted that McDonalds had not even said sorry for the incident, which happened at One Stop Shopping Centre two weeks ago (30/8).
She added: “These jobsworths left my child in tears.
“He had just started being fed and suddenly I was taking the food away, he’s only 10-months-old, he didn’t understand what was going on.
“Suddenly his lunch was being taken away and people were crowding round him, so, of course, he started crying.
“It was all so awful, they made me feel like a criminal.
“I definitely won’t be going back to McDonalds again – they haven’t even apologised for it.
“It was the first time I had ever been to that branch and it will certainly be the last.”
A McDonald’s spokesperson said: “We strive to ensure that our restaurants provide a welcoming and friendly atmosphere for families.
“We do ask customers to refrain from eating externally sourced food within our restaurants and in this case we kindly asked the customer to put the item of food that she was consuming away.”
