Couple wearing dinosaur and insect onesies refused entry to Natural History Museum

A teenage couple were refused entry to the Natural History Museum for wearing onesies. Beth Garvey, 17, and boyfriend Alex Croth, 18, visited the London attraction dressed in the animal suits. Alex was dressed in a dinosaur onesie, while Beth donned one based on an insect. They had planned to spend the day at the famous venue looking at the exhibits - including Dippy the Dinosaur. But even though they had been told to 'wear something comfortable' for the college trip security refused them entry. Despite selling Natural History Museum branded onesies in their shop, staff were adamant the couple were dressed in costumes and insisted they needed to change before being allowed in.

Beth and Alex were then forced to undress to their clothes beneath before handing over the garment to security. "We got pulled aside in front of everyone first, then they told us we had to take them off," Beth, from Swindon, Wiltshire, said. "Luckily we had clothes on underneath but a lot of people don't. They said it was classed as a costume and we couldn't wear that in the museum. We said, no it was pyjamas, you sell them yourselves. They were insistent it was a costume and asked if we were celebrating someone's birthday which was why we were wearing them. I was gobsmacked." They had travelled to London, by train, without any questions and made their way to the museum, in South Kensington.



As they tried to enter the building however they were stopped, and told to remove the outfits. Beth added: "We were told to put them in our bag which thankfully we had, as long as we didn't wear them or even take them out in the museum. But once we got inside to the bag check they made us take them out so they could check them and make sure we weren't hiding anything in them. They made us stand there, in front of everyone, we felt like we have done something really, really wrong. Then they took our onesies from us and put them behind the desk, giving us this ticket we could use to collect them when we were done at the museum at the end of the day. All for an item of clothing which they sell in their own shop.

"It was very strange, they didn't have any signs, I checked the website when I got back to see if I'd missed something. There was nothing about any other forms of clothing on, it just said you could take anything as long as it was not threatening." A spokesman for the museum said: ''We're sorry that Ms Garvey and her partner felt uncomfortable removing their onesies for their visit. While we don't have a particular dress code, the duty manager is responsible for deciding whether people can enter the museum. We have in the past had visitors in costumes cause disturbances in the building, which affected other people's experience at the museum. After their onesies were put in the cloakroom Ms Garvey and her partner continued their visit and we offered complimentary tickets in recompense for the inconvenience and embarrassment they felt."