September 7, 200718 yr Shopping centre forces girl, 4, to take off her 'hoodie' Last updated at 18:01pm on 7th September 2007 Comments (8) Karen Lewis, 4, was forced to take down her hood on a visit to a shopping centre A four-year-old girl was ordered to take down the hood of her woollen cardigan in a North Wales amusement arcade - in case she was a "hoodie" lout. Karen Lewis was on holiday with her mother and grandparents when they visited Les Harkers Amusements, on West Parade, Rhyl. She was enjoying the games, with her family nearby, when a worker approached and ordered her to remove the hood of her cardigan. Her mother Cheryl was astonished when Karen told her what had happened. The 36-year-old said: "What is the world coming to if a four-year-old child is told to remove the hood of her cardigan, as if she was a hoodie? "I appreciate there is bad publicity about hoodies, but a four-year-old girl is an entirely different issue. She was very upset about the whole incident. "Bearing in mind that I'm disabled and my father who was with us is 69, we were hardly posing a threat to others. It is just ludicrous." "I asked to speak to the man who told Karen to take it off as a point of principle. "He didn't seem very interested and when I eventually got to speak to a supervisor, I was rudely accused of being awkward. "They asked what was the point of me complaining as the incident had not emotionally scarred my daughter." Cheryl claimed that other people in the arcade were still wearing hoods, caps and hats without being challenged. She said the supervisor failed to give her "a straight answer" when she asked why they had not been ordered to remove their headwear. Les Harker, who has run amusement arcades and bingo halls in the area for nearly 45 years, said nobody was allowed to wear hooded tops on his premises. He told the Daily Post: "I wasn't in the arcade when this happened but the manager spoke to the lady. "He explained the house policy and that we have CCTV and we need to see everyone's face. "She also spoke to my son Craig who told her that if she was unhappy the little girl could put it back on. "I am disappointed this has happened. I think it's a case of not what the staff member said, but how it was said. "When I see a youngster wearing a hooded top come into one of my premises I ask them to take it off with a smile and a gag. "They get the idea and no one is offended." Sportswear, hooded tops and caps were banned from bars at night in Rhyl last year in a crackdown on pub crime. Licensees will have the right to refuse entry to anyone wearing such clothing after a 9pm watershed under the new Rhyl Rules scheme, which also prohibits violence, drugs and stolen property.
September 7, 200718 yr The rules of that particular shopping centre prob said no hoods of any type, be it worm by a baby, a teenager or a retired gentlemen.
September 7, 200718 yr Author The rules of that particular shopping centre prob said no hoods of any type, be it worm by a baby, a teenager or a retired gentlemen. What do worms have to do with it??:confused: Anyway, it still shows a lack of common-sense on the part of the security people.;)
September 7, 200718 yr One rule for everybody, why should 4 year old girls be allowed to break that rule?
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