A RELAXING pre-Christmas meal at a Bromsgrove restaurant turned into a horrific nightmare for a Blackwell family.

Chris Hart of Tanglewood Close was "gobsmacked" when he spotted his five-year old daughter playing with a hypodermic needle, another child had found in the toilets of the town's Brewsters restaurant.

He had been enjoying a meal at the A38 Birmingham Road restaurant with his wife, three young children and some friends' in the early evening of Friday December 13.

The youngsters were keen to explore the restaurant's Fun Factory- a supervised, children's play den with a colourful ball pit and other exciting activities. They played there until their food arrived.

However, shortly after the meal when the youngsters returned to play Chris spotted five-year old Rachel being 'playfully' stabbed with an object by another child.

It was a used hypodermic needle with its cover on, which another child had found in one of the restaurant's toilets situated near to the Fun Factory.

A group of children had been playing with the needle taking its cover on and off, oblivious to its possible dangers.

"I have to say I was gobsmacked when I saw the children playing with the used needle," said Chris.

He called on the staff at the restaurant, none of who had noticed the child carry the needle back with him into the play den, and they dealt with it.

"They dealt with the situation well but they did not seemed too concerned, especially the manager."

The family rushed Rachel to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, where she was checked by medical staff, but by this point she was too upset to have a blood test.

Although Chris said the family has calmed down they are still very concerned about Rachel's health.

"We are trying to get the needle forensically tested," said Chris.

Brewsters head of communications Lesley Hughes said: "I have to say we share our concerns with the family and we will be reviewing our policies concerning toilet checks.

"We check our toilets every hour already but we will be doing all we can to ensure that things of this nature do not happen again."