Toy parrot bought for baby spouts foul-mouthed expletives

A mother has spoken of her anger after she bought a toy parrot for her 11-month-old daughter - and it spouted a series of foul-mouthed expletives. Tina Banks, 44, picked out the cuddly, multi-coloured bird from the toy section of a 99p Store in Brighton, East Sussex, for her toddler Roxy.

But when she got outside and handed the stuffed toy to her excited daughter, it squawked: "Oi! What are you looking at ****hole." And when she pulled the toy's cord again, it muttered other four-letter insults including: "I'm going to rip your head off and **** down your neck".

Other expletives programmed into the bird included: "Sod off, sod off", "Oi! Bugger off" and "What are you staring at ****hole?"



Mrs Banks, who lives in Brighton, said: "I bought it because Roxy was throwing a paddy in her pram and I thought the parrot might keep her a little bit quiet. But when we got outside and I handed it to her, it came out with these swear words. The worse thing was there was a man in front of us who thought it was aimed at him.

"I went ten shades of red and have never been so embarrassed in my life. When I bought it I didn't realise it spoke, I just thought it was a cuddly toy. But it has got a cord coming out of its backside that, when you pull it, comes out with all this bad language. It's shocking to think this was being sold in a toy section."

Hussein Lalani, commercial director of 99p Stores, apologised and said it should not have been sold in the toy section of the store. "I will be speaking to the manager to make sure he puts it into the correct position," he said.