Girl begs to use toilet after FIVE shops refused to let her use their bathrooms ‘because of Covid’

This is the upsetting moment a two-year-old girl begs to use the toilet after five shops and cafes allegedly refused to let her use their bathrooms ‘due to coronavirus’.

Furious mother Lucinda Taylor-Milne, 33, was travelling through Sheffield city centre last Tuesday when her daughter Lola needed to use the bathroom.

She claims staff at Starbucks, Caffe Nero, Boots and Marks and Spencer (M&S) outlets told her their toilets were closed and could not be opened.

They allegedly watched sobbing Lola beg ‘please, I need a wee wee’ – but still would not help her. Eventually, the mother and daughter used a bathroom at a McDonald’s, where they had earlier been rejected by staff.

After being criticised online for filming her daughter during the incident, Ms Taylor-Milne hit back and said if she had not filmed the incident then people ‘would [not] have taken it seriously or seen how distressing it was’.

The stay-at-home mother, from Sheffield, West Yorkshire, is now calling on staff working at similar outlets to use their discretion and make exceptions when needed.

Ms Taylor-Milne said: ‘She [Lola] was crying and saying ‘please, I need a wee wee’ when we went to Marks and Spencer and Boots.

Furious mother Lucinda Taylor-Milne, 33, was travelling through Sheffield city centre last Tuesday when her daughter Lola needed to use the bathroom

Ms Taylor-Milne, from Sheffield, West Yorkshire, said: 'She [Lola] was crying and saying 'please, I need a wee wee' when we went to Marks and Spencer and Boots'

Ms Taylor-Milne, from Sheffield, West Yorkshire, said: ‘She [Lola] was crying and saying ‘please, I need a wee wee’ when we went to Marks and Spencer and Boots’

‘[Those two] stores could clearly see my daughter was upset, yet they still said no.

‘I started to panic, then I got upset because I could see my daughter. She went ‘I don’t want to wet my knickers. I don’t want to wee wee my pants’. I tried to explain there was nowhere for her to go.

‘I’ve had some comments that I shouldn’t have videoed my daughter in that state, but if I hadn’t, I don’t think people would have taken it seriously or seen how distressing it was.

‘Lola’s been potty trained for nearly a year now. It’s really hard to explain to a two-year-old that the one place we’ve taught her to use, she can’t go to.

‘This won’t be just my daughter. It’ll be people who are disabled too. How many toilets are available for them? Four stores turned us away. We were walking around for 20 minutes. It was a blind panic moment.’ 

After being turned away by Starbucks, Ms Taylor-Milne began a panicked zigzag across the high street, while Lola became increasingly distressed.

‘Before any trip out, I always make sure my daughter’s been to the toilet, but being a two-year-old, you can’t always guarantee when they need to go,’ Ms Taylor-Milne said. 

Pictured: Caffe Nero on Sheffield city centre's high street

Pictured: Caffe Nero on Sheffield city centre’s high street 

Pictured: A Starbucks store in Sheffield city centre's Fargate

Pictured: A Starbucks store in Sheffield city centre’s Fargate

‘I’d ordered something from Greggs and had to wait 15 minutes for something I ordered. By that point she really needed to go, so I nipped across to Starbucks to see if they’d let me go.

‘I nipped over and said ‘can I use the baby change for my daughter please?’ They said ‘sorry, it’s closed due to Covid and we don’t have a key, we can’t open it’.

‘Then I went to Caffe Nero and they had a big sign saying their toilets were closed. I said ‘excuse me, can I use your toilet please?’ And they said ‘no, sorry it’s closed’.

‘I then explained it wasn’t for me and they just said ‘I’m sorry, it’s closed’.

‘I went back over to Greggs to see if my order was ready, but they said it’d be three more minutes, so, I rushed over to Boots and I was sure they had a toilet.

‘I spoke to security on the door and basically he said ‘sorry, they’re blocked off and no one’s allowed to use them’. I said ‘it’s for my daughter. She needs the toilet’. If places have a customer toilet, it should be public use.

‘I went over to M&S and they said ‘sorry, but the toilets are closed’. I said again it was my daughter who needed it. They could all see it was my daughter who needed the toilet because she was shouting it.’

Pictured: Boots on Sheffield city centre's high street

Pictured: Boots on Sheffield city centre’s high street

Pictured: Marks & Spencer store in Sheffield city centre's Fargate

Pictured: Marks & Spencer store in Sheffield city centre’s Fargate

The distressed mother and daughter were then forced to return to McDonald’s, where a member of staff told them they would make exceptions for youngsters and disabled people going forward.

Ms Taylor-Milne said: ‘The public toilets further up have been closed the entire time during the pandemic – even before that, I think.

‘I’d also tried McDonald’s and when I first tried going there, there was someone stood at the door in uniform who said ‘I’m sorry, our toilets are closed’. But I thought, I’m going back to McDonald’s.

‘I said ‘look, you can clearly see my child needs the toilet. I know you have a toilet’.

‘They then said ‘if it’s for a child or someone is disabled, we’ll always make an exception’. They let me use the toilet.

‘Quite often, even before the pandemic, they tell you that unless you’re a customer [of a shop or café], you cannot use their toilets.

‘My point is, there are a lot of stores, especially like Starbucks or Caffe Nero, who have customer toilets. There aren’t that many public toilets anymore – so where do you go? Where do their staff go?’ 

The stay-at-home mother is now calling on staff working at similar outlets to use their discretion and make exceptions when needed. Pictured with Lola

The stay-at-home mother is now calling on staff working at similar outlets to use their discretion and make exceptions when needed. Pictured with Lola

Boots and M&S apologised for the upset caused and vowed to speak to their staff. A spokesperson for Boots said: ‘We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to Lucinda and her daughter. 

‘We recognise that there are occasions when it is appropriate to allow customers to use the colleague toilet facilities in our stores and we will remind the team in Sheffield of this policy.’

An M&S spokesperson said: ‘We are sorry for the upset this cased Lucinda and her daughter.

‘We have had to temporarily close the toilets at our Fargate store due to the current lockdown restrictions, but we have made sure that all colleagues are aware that they can open the toilets for a customer in situations like this.’

MailOnline has approached Starbucks, McDonald’s and Caffe Nero for comment.