Fart police

A woman was asked to leave an Enfield charity shop after the assistants accused her baby of passing wind.

Dr Mine Dogantan Dack, a research fellow in piano music at Middlesex University, claims one of the assistants asked her to leave the British Heart Foundation (BHF) shop, in Palmers Green, on April 12, after implying her 17-month-old daughter had caused a stink.

Dr Dack said: "I told them that my baby didn't do a poo or (pass wind) while we were in the shop; and that even if she did they have no right to ask me to leave. Who gives the BHF staff the authority to act as the 'fart police'?

"If this happened at Harrods, it would be disgraceful enough, but at a charity shop, the survival of which depends completely on the good will of the public, this behaviour is totally 'disgusting and unacceptable', in the words I used before leaving the shop. "

She has applied to set up a petition on the 10 Downing Street website calling for "the Prime Minister to ban insulting behaviour towards babies" and the right of babies to have "freedom of movement in public spaces."