Hot drinks banned at coffee morning
Health and safety officials are in hot water after banning hot drinks - from a mums' coffee morning.
Volunteers have been ordered to change the name of the sessions from 'Coffee and Play' to just 'Baby Play', reports the Daily Telegraph.
Parents attending the Stratford Children's Centre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warkwickshire, must now catch up over a plastic cup of water.
The weekly 90-minute sessions have been running for five years for children aged 18 months and under and no toddler has ever been injured in that time.
But Warwickshire County Council introduced the ban after it ruled hot drinks were a hazard to toddlers.
Mother-of-three Candida Hillman, 40, who has used the centre for four years, branded the ban "ludicrous".
She said: "The situation they have in place now is more dangerous than before.
"Parents used to be able to have a hot drink with them while they watched their kids play but now they have to walk into a different room."
Children's centres across Warwickshire can now only serve hot drinks if they are in a separate area from the toddlers.
Vicky Kersey, children's centre officer at the council, said: "To minimise any risk of scalding a child we have introduced a hot drinks policy at all of the county's children's centres."
Volunteers have been ordered to change the name of the sessions from 'Coffee and Play' to just 'Baby Play', reports the Daily Telegraph.
Parents attending the Stratford Children's Centre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warkwickshire, must now catch up over a plastic cup of water.
The weekly 90-minute sessions have been running for five years for children aged 18 months and under and no toddler has ever been injured in that time.
But Warwickshire County Council introduced the ban after it ruled hot drinks were a hazard to toddlers.
Mother-of-three Candida Hillman, 40, who has used the centre for four years, branded the ban "ludicrous".
She said: "The situation they have in place now is more dangerous than before.
"Parents used to be able to have a hot drink with them while they watched their kids play but now they have to walk into a different room."
Children's centres across Warwickshire can now only serve hot drinks if they are in a separate area from the toddlers.
Vicky Kersey, children's centre officer at the council, said: "To minimise any risk of scalding a child we have introduced a hot drinks policy at all of the county's children's centres."
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