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A father has told how staff at a children’s play centre called police after he defied their order not to sing Happy Birthday to his daughter.

Colm Doherty was ordered not to sing the song to Cara, who was celebrating her eighth birthday at Clowntown children’s centre in Muswell Hill, because they had not bought a “birthday package” - despite spending more than £300 on food, drinks and entry fees.

A staff member tried to intervene as they lit birthday candles and began to sing but when Mr Doherty, 47, stood in front of the receptionist to stop her from interrupting and “upsetting” the group of 18 children she contacted police.

Officers were given CCTV footage of the incident but are understood to have taken no action against Mr Doherty.

The heating engineer, who lives in Cricklewood with his wife Marie, 49, and six children, said it was “utter madness”.

Mrs Doherty had previously contacted Clowntown to ask if they could book a birthday party for 20 children and six adults but was told there was no availability.

The family decided to visit the centre in Muswell Hill anyway. They noticed that two of the “party booths” were not being used and a female staff member said they could use one.

But she later told them that she was “in fairly big trouble” for allowing them to use it and warned that they should not “produce a cake or sing Happy Birthday”.

Clowntown said it was “against company policy” for guests to sing the birthday song on their premises unless they have specifically booked to have a party.

“When the cake came out you could sense a bit of nervous tension among the staff, and one particular lady came storming down and told us that we could not sing and to put the cake away,” Mr Doherty told the Daily Mail.

He said he stood in front of her to shield the children and told her to go away.

He said he was left in “shock and disbelief” by Clowntown’s actions and said the other six parents in the group were “fuming”.

Manager Ian Slazenger said it is their policy that “you don’t celebrate a birthday party on our premises unless it is the package you obtain”.

He added: “There were four other groups and we did not want them to see that people can just come in and celebrate a birthday without respecting our policy.”

He also claimed Mr Doherty’s group was offered a birthday package but chose not to take it but admitted they spent more on entry fees and food than if they had used the birthday service, which costs between £7.50 and £15 per child.

He claimed that a staff member contacted police because the father displayed an “aggressive attitude” - a claim which Mr Doherty denies - and pointed his finger and took photographs of her.

A police spokesman confirmed that officers had spoken to Mr Doherty at Clowntown, but said no formal action was taken.