A single mother's four young children were reduced to tears after being turned away from a swimming pool due to her being the only present adult.
Lisa Wood attempted to take nine-year-old Keelie, three-year-old Alicea, two-year-old Matthew and Chanelle aged one to the local swimming centre for free swimming lessons.
However, she said they were all turned away due to a policy that only allows two children per adult at Smethwick Swimming Centre, West Midlands.
The 33-year-old reported that her kids were left in floods of tears as she had no other adult who could help, reports Yorkshire Live.
The mum, from Birmingham, said: "We got there at 12.50pm for the 1.15pm session, I thought I'd get there early as children can swim for free over the holidays.
"I got in there and asked if I could sign them up for the free-swimming.
"First they said no I have to do it online at home and then they said you have to have a different email address for each child.
"She said you can't come in with four children alone. My family members who would come are disabled.
"That's not fair on my children. Keelie and Alicea can swim already, I don't see the problem.
"I can't afford to take them on holiday as everything has gone so expensive, so I thought, great, I'd take them swimming over the holidays.
"Every day I've done something with them, taken them to the farm, to parks, they were so excited to go swimming.
"My two-year-old and three-year-old, they were in tears. They thought we were going swimming. I promised them we were.
"The staff said to go and get someone else, I said there is no one.
"They said it's two kids per person and I said that's not fair on my kids."
The angry mum said that she and the youngsters did a three-mile round trip for nothing.
She added: "It's very important for them to get used to the water.
"It took us all morning to get ready for swimming.
"I've complained to the trust and they just said it's their policy but I don't think it's fair.
"I'm annoyed and really upset, we were going to have a brilliant day then go and get a cone of chips.
"There's a lot of single parents out there who have three or four kids."
A spokesman for Sandwell Leisure Trust said: "Swimming pools have an under 8s swimming policy which is common practice in the industry and is in place for safety of all participants. Full details are available on our website here is the link: https://www.slt-leisure.co.uk/activity/swimming/
"Parents can register any children for free swimming up and under 16 years of age. This can be done online at www.slt-leisure.co.uk centres also can help customers register at the centre.
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