Friday, July 31, 2015



Disgruntled British mothers up in arms after Coventry hotel sign declares benches are 'for bums NOT babies'

A group of mothers were left outraged by a sign at a Coventry hotel, which they felt labelled babies as 'a nuisance'.

Notices were posted in the swimming pool changing rooms of the Village Urban Resort, near Hearsall Common over the weekend.

Warning parents to keep the benches in this area clear, the signs said: 'Polite notice: These benches are for bums - not bags or babies! Thank you.'

A flurry of disgruntled mothers then contacted the local newspaper, the Coventry Telegraph to complain about the message, which they saw as 'disgusting'.

Bosses at the hotel maintained that the signs were put up for 'health and safety' reasons and defended their decision to post them.

Stephen Cresswell, regional director at the Village Hotel said: 'If someone has been offended by the sign that has been put up then we, of course, apologise for that. 'But a sign like that would only have been put up from a health and safety perspective to help everyone who uses the club.'

But many of the mothers, who came across the signs while taking their children swimming were distraught at the suggestion of changing their babies on the floor.

One such mother, Toni Bird, who took her four-year-old daughter to the hotel's leisure club on Sunday, told the newspaper: 'I took my daughter swimming and as I was going in I heard people talking about it.

'There is only one fold-down changing table in the female changing rooms and if there are a few people with babies you aren't going to stand around while they get cold, you are going to change them on the bench.

The debate has continued on the Coventry Telegraph's Facebook page, with opinion differing between social media users.

One commenter wrote: 'They cannot expect people to put their babies on the floor unless they provide mats or more changing stations.'

SOURCE

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Changing a baby on a bench with the resultant spread of bodily fluids is disgusting. But the mothers cannot be bothered with spreading filth if their darlings are cold. The coddling of todays youth is beyond belief.

MDH

Anonymous said...

Why should a private hotel swimmingpool especially cater for babies that need changing, or for mothers who insist on bringing their babies with them when they need to be changed. It's up to the mothers to organize their changing methods such as some kind of folding-table, which I'm sure are available for purchase as are innumerable products for baby-care and baby-rearing. It is indeed a health issue for other users of the swimming-pool if "baby-fluids" are likely to be encountered. These mothers are just selfish and even anti-social!

Bird of Paradise said...

They should use the restrooms to change their babies diapars

stinky said...

Sounds like a fair warning: hey, parents, this bench is about as clean as your own backside.

Disillusioned said...

It's a hotel. Change your babies in your room.

Alpha Skua said...

There's a place to change dirty diapars but its not the park bench