Health and safety stops mum buying kids' scissors

A mother has spoken of her astonishment after a shop refused to sell her a pair of children's scissors because they were not sure she would supervise her daughter using them at home. Nadine Martin was with her three-year-old buying art materials in WH Smith, North Street, Chichester, for some wet-weather activities last week. They selected various items including a pair of brightly-coloured chunky plastic scissors.

At the till, her daughter put the scissors on the counter but the assistant said that because she had put them on the counter, it raised the issue of supervision. Mrs Martin said she was flabbergasted by the remark. "When we were in the queue my daughter said to me 'can I give the lady the scissors?' and I said it was fine, but when we got there the woman said 'will you be supervising her?'



"I said 'sorry?' and she said there was a problem because my daughter had put the scissors on the counter. She called over another woman and she said it was company policy that because she had put them on the counter it called into question whether she would be supervised using them and said I wouldn't be able to buy them." Mrs Martin, who had £25 of stationery in her basket, was asked whether she wanted to still buy the rest of the items but she declined. "I can't believe a parent can't buy plastic scissors. They were clearly labelled and had '3+' on them"

A spokeswoman for WH Smith said in this case the rules may have been taken a little too far. "Customer safety is of paramount importance to us and to that end we insist our staff complete regular training updates to remind them of their obligations both legally and in accordance with our own policies," she said. "On this occasion a staff member may have been a little over-zealous in their interpretation of that training and we apologise for any inconvenience or embarrassment that may have caused."