Costa apologises after parents feeding disabled baby ordered to leave cafe

Apology: Family asked to leave well known coffee chain after complaint from another customer.NorthScot

Costa Coffee has apologised to a mother who was ordered out of one of their shops with her disabled baby as she fed him through a tube.

Staff told Claire Walker, 29, her husband Kenneth, 44, and her ill son Brayden to leave and never return to the Bon Accord Centre café in Aberdeen.

In a statement Costa said it had now "sincerely apologised" to the family for the incident.

A spokesman said: “We are able to confirm that we have now spoken to Mrs Walker, the lady involved, and sincerely apologised for the incident involving her family.

“We will deal with the staff member involved in line with our human resource procedures. We will reinforce our policies around disability to all Costa team members at the earliest opportunity

“We will increase our focus on teaching staff how to deal better with sensitive situations whatever they may be.”

Staff asked Mrs Walker to leave after the sight of Brayden being fed through a tube prompted another customer to complain as “he was putting her and her friend off their coffee as they could hear the wind in his tube”.

Mrs Walker said: “I felt the whole situation was disrespectful but I am pleased that Costa called me to apologise. I agree that this is a one-off, isolated situation, caused by one person and not Costa as an organisation."

The Equality and Human Rights Commission for Scotland said that it is possible to look into further action if the Walker family register a complaint.

An EHRC spokeswoman said: "Currently, we do not have any details of the case and have not received a complaint.

"In cases like this we would encourage Claire and Kenneth to get in touch with our helpline and we can assess the situation from there."

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