A MUM-OF-TWO from Barrow has hit out at a restaurant boss after having to pay £6 for two eight-month-old babies to sit with them at a Chinese buffet.

Stacey Williams went for a family meal at Panda Garden in Duke Street, Barrow, on Sunday night and was disgusted when she checked the bill and saw that she had been charged £3 each for her son and her niece.

The pair, who sat in high chairs provided by the restaurant for the meal, only ate part of a prawn cracker and tasted a small piece of watermelon.

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Miss Williams said: "To have to pay three pounds for an eight-month-old baby who eats next to nothing is disgusting. The food they were eating was not food that we had physically gone up to get for them, it was just a bit of a prawn cracker and not even a plate.

"He said that he was changing his house rules but it doesn't state anywhere on the building that you have to pay for a baby. If i went back again I would have to without the baby and it shouldn't be coming to that."

Miss Williams was also left dissatisfied by the condition of the high chairs which her babies sat in for the meal.

She added: "They were wooden ones and the babies kept slipping down them because the straps had come away from the chair. We shouldn't be paying to sit in those because they aren't even up to scratch.

"At the end of the day they were only babies that were just trying a little bit of our food which we had paid for anyway."

Michael Chen, who has been the manager of the restaurant for four months, defended his decision to charge £3 for babies and insisted that Miss Williams should have raised concerns with him about the total amount.

He said: "When the customer paid the bill she should have not paid or made it clear that she did not want to pay. If they had been persistent we would not have charged them.

"She said to me that they had had a tiny amount but did not push me to take it off the bill and if she had I would have taken it off. However, I would have said that for next time whether it be a small amount or a large amount we would charge them the £3."

Mr Chen said that his restaurant operates on discretion but will be launching new menus within the next fortnight which will officially outline the £3 fee for babies.

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He added: "The fee is not for the high chair, it is for the food consumed and food was left on the babies' plates so we had a right to ask for the money.

"It does not matter if you are an adult how much you have and the same applies for children.

"However, if the baby is sleeping we will let them off, but if they have something reasonable they will have to pay."

"What this person has done is not very pleasant. She could have talked to me and communicated with me - it is not like I don't understand English at all."