A HELENSBURGH parent has hit out at a supermarket chain for “discriminating against children” after a new policy was introduced restricting the number of youngsters in store at one time.

The mum of two, who asked to remain anonymous, criticised Waitrose on Cardross Road for implementing a strict rule of no more than 30 children in the shop at once.

The move was allegedly designed to address public safety concerns during school lunch breaks, according to the parent, but she claimed it is unfairly targeting pupils at nearby Hermitage Academy and children are now being forced elsewhere.

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She said: “Waitrose say it’s to do with public safety. If that’s the case, why are they making children queue? Why not adults and everyone else? I can imagine the headlines if that was what they were doing, that would be an outrage.

“It’s not about the numbers, they have been here for five years, so I think it’s more to do with shoplifting.

“There have been incidents in the past with shoplifting, but as a parent I find it totally insulting to force all children to wait outside.

“If you are going to put a policy in place then you can’t discriminate against children.

“Basically, they are saying my child’s money is less valuable. These children are going to be adult customers in the future.

“I think if you’re going to say you are limiting the number of people coming into the store, then that means everybody. That would be the fair thing to do.”

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The woman, who has a 16-year-old son in fourth year and an 18-year-old daughter in sixth year at Hermitage Academy, said she hopes the store rethinks its strategy.

She added: “What if it was OAPs they were doing this to? Imagine the headline.

“I’m very unhappy about it. Children spend a lot of money there and it has put them off going to Waitrose now. They usually go everyday but now there’s a lot of pushing and shoving outside.

“If it’s about shoplifting, say it’s about that. The kids only have an hour so it impacts on their whole lunch break. If other big stores can manage without doing this why can’t they?

“They knew they were building next door to a school, so this wasn’t a surprise to them.

“I have been in a number of times during the school lunch break and I’ve never seen any issues.

“If they are having problems, lets talk about it and not disguise it as a public safety issue.

“If that’s the case, then why are you letting me in? It just doesn’t make sense.

“It’s not as if they’re going to be buying rubbish, most of the children are eating healthy now and spending a lot of money to buy good food. Kids are savvy shoppers now. But it’s hypocrisy saying that it’s about public safety.”

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A Waitrose and Partners spokesperson said: “We have a very good relationship with Hermitage Academy and after meeting with them, we've decided to trial this to ensure all of our customers - whether they're from the school or not - can have a good experience when shopping with us.

“We have a large number of customers from the school and we're looking at whether doing this can help the flow of customers around the shop and ensure queues at our checkouts are short and swift.”