A mum who was asked to clean up her own toddler's vomit at a parent and child café has criticised the request as "outrageous".

Monika Hromis was in Café au Play at the Rotunda, Kingston, with her 11-month-old son Oliver a fortnight ago when Oliver was sick on the floor. Instead of cleaning it up, a member of staff gave her gloves, paper and a cleaning spray and asked the customer to wipe it up herself.

As a paying customer, Mrs Hromis, 33, from Maple Road, Surbiton, said it is not her job to clean up.

She said: "I did it without a word but I think that other mums should hear about it. I think that was outrageous and I have never in my life heard that any customer had cleaned in any restaurant, as this is supposed to be a job for a paid staff and not for a paying customer."

Ceri John, who runs the independent café, said that at the time staff believed Oliver was ill and wanted to avoid passing the germs from his vomit to other children, especially as staff work with food.

She said: "We have staff working in the kitchen and it was to protect people such as other small children or pregnant mothers. Sometimes when a child is sick, parents have offered to clean up themselves, and we have followed up to make sure they are all right."

She added staff regularly clean up after children generally and and deal with "wee incidents" with hygiene gloves. But if staff are sick they have to stay away for 24 hours in line with food hygiene regulations.

Café au Play opened last year as a child-friendly café with a £1 entry fee for each child with a parent, where children can play and adults relax and have a drink.

Mrs John has offered Mrs Hromis free drinks and expressed her regret.