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A mum-of-two has hit out at a Build A Bear staff member's lack of sympathy when her disabled son had a 'meltdown' while queuing for the Pay Your Age Day offer.

Francesca Ketley claims to have been told autistic son Isaac would have to re-join the massive queue - despite them being taken to the till by another employee who saw just how agitated and restless he was getting.

The 24-year-old has now vowed to never return to the shop again following the 'unfair' treatment they faced.

Francesca and her fiancé Karl Rimmer, 35, were among hundreds of other parents and grandparents, queuing to get the bargain bears.

There was chaos across the country, with reports of nine-hour queues in some areas, children crying, police being called and one person being assaulted as shoppers snapped up the offer.

And a spokesman from Build A Bear said said the response to the deal had been "overwhelming and unprecedented."

(Image: Hull Daily Mail WS)

Francesca and her family got to St Stephen’s Shopping Centre in Hull at 8.40am to get their hands on bears for four-year-old Isaac and their other son, Alfie, one, reports Hull Live .

“He is autistic and disabled and the security guard could see he was hand slapping and getting upset with himself," Francesca said.

“The security guard and a Build A Bear member of staff came over and asked if he was OK.

"I said he was getting upset and stressed, so they let us come through to the till to speak to the manager to see if we could get a quick bear made.

“One member of staff went to get the manager and offered us two pre-made bears which we were willing to pay for but then manager came back and said we would have to re-join the queue or he would give us this money off voucher.”

(Image: Hull Daily Mail WS)

As queues got out of control at the shopping centre, teddy bear lovers were given the chance to take home a £12 off voucher which they could use in the future in store instead of waiting.

Francesca, who had no choice but to take struggling Isaac out the queue, says she was offered two of these vouchers.

But she is not happy with this and feels she should have been able to take advantage of the Pay Your Age Day offer.

“The manager changed his mind and I told him I was disgusted,” she said.

“I couldn’t believe the way they treated a disabled child who was obviously very upset.

(Image: Hull Daily Mail WS)

“He has had a meltdown and he can’t understand why he couldn’t have a bear. It’s hard for him to register and I was disgusted with the whole service.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this before from Build A Bear. Isaac just wanted to take part like every other child in the UK will have wanted to do today.

“Why should my son be treated any differently to the normal everyday child?”

Devastated by her bad experience, Francesca took to Facebook to rant about how her family were allegedly treated.

On the Hull store’s Facebook page, she posted a one star review and wrote: “Disgusting service today I explain my 4 year old son was disabled and autism that can't cope with the queue and noise.

“One lady was lovely but the manager didn't care and wouldn't even let me buy a pre-made one and fobbed me off with a voucher of money.

“Disgusting you should have thought about disabled children, it not fair they should miss out.”

Francesca has declared she will never shop at Build A Bear again.

She said: “I will never go back there again – not after being treated like that. I wasn’t asking for much – all I wanted was a pre-made bear. Isaac would have been happy with a simple teddy.”

Francesca has since raised her concerns with Build A Bear and St Stephen’s Shopping Centre after Thursday morning’s incident.

Jim Harris, centre manager for St Stephen’s, said he was aware of Miss Ketley’s concerns but reiterated that security staff acted promptly and efficiently to try and resolve the situation in the best interests of the child.

He said: “Obviously it’s very difficult when you have got an autistic child in that kind of atmosphere. As we understand it, the child was getting distressed and we were able to put the mother directly in contact with the manager of Build A Bear.

“We don’t then know what they did or what they offered to the customer.”

The shopping centre had to deal with an unprecedented amount of people who flocked to the centre to try and bag themselves a bargain teddy bear.

At its height, more than 500 people stood patiently waiting to get their hands on a cheap bear and at certain points during the day, security were forced to restrict people from entering the queue due to "safety concerns and extreme crowds."