Mum's shock as toy parrot swears at daughter, five

A mother says she was stunned when a cuddly parrot toy she bought for her young daughter let fly with a string of foul mouthed obscenities and swear words. Mum Tara Weston, 32, bought the innocent-looking soft toy as a gift from the children's section of The 99p Store, in Seven Sisters Road, Holloway.

But she was forced to cover the ears of five-year-old daughter Demi when the X-rated plaything squawked: "I'm going to rip you head off and s*** down your neck", "b****r off" and "up your bum".

Ms Weston, of Carleton Road, Holloway, said: "It's just a cuddly, fluffy little parrot but it's got a cord that you pull and it comes out with all this bad language. It's disgusting.



"I bought it from the pound shop because it was in the kids section. I don't want my five-year-old child hearing words like that."

The shocked mum immediately went back to complain about the 99p toy - made in China and marketed for adults under the name Polly The Insulting Parrot. "They said it was a mistake," said Ms Weston. "The manager said it was an adult toy and he'd take them all off the shelves."

But the offending parrot has ruffled the feathers of Islington Council's trading standards officers. A spokeswoman said: "Our trading standards team will be contacting the store to suggest that the item is moved into another area, as it's clearly not suitable to be on sale in the children's section."