A supermarket customer has been ordered to take his young daughter off his shoulders because of health and safety concerns.

Martin Dunkley, 45, was carrying six-year-old Natalie in a Tesco store in Bar Hill, Cambridge, when he was approached by a security guard and ordered to put his daughter down.

"We had just got in the door when a security guard came up to me and said, 'Can you take her off your shoulders please - you're not shopping with her on your shoulders'," Mr Dunkley told the Cambridge News.

"He said it was for safety reasons. I couldn't believe it. It's ridiculous. This sort of pettiness gives health and safety a bad name."

A Tesco spokesman said: "We take the safety of our staff and customers very seriously. We have no blanket policy on this issue."