A grandmother is urging people not to feed seagulls after her four-year-old granddaughter was injured when a bird snatched a snack from her.

Anita Bean, of Deal Road, Worth, was shopping in Deal High Street with her granddaughter, Abby-Rose, when a gull swooped down and stole the little girl’s croissant.

The shocked youngster was left with a bleeding finger and reduced to tears.

Mrs Bean is now appealing to the public not to feed the birds to prevent future injuries - particularly to vulnerable children and the elderly.

She will be contacting Deal Town Council to see if a ban can be enforced.

She said: “My granddaughter was hysterical.

“She was walking along with me, holding my hand and eating her croissant and this huge seagull just appeared from behind us and took her food.

“I thought it had nipped her face but it had actually got her finger and made her bleed.

“It took me ages to calm her down.”

On her next visit to the town, she saw people feeding the birds sausage rolls.

She said: “I really don’t think people should be feeding them.

“When you look through the town you see so many children in buggies and elderly people who could be hurt if this happened to them.

“If people didn’t feed them they wouldn’t come into the town and it would make the High Street a nicer place.”

Mrs Bean’s plight follows earlier appeals from others about feeding pigeons in the town centre.

Peter Jull, chairman of Deal and Walmer Chamber of Trade, raised the idea of fines at a district council meeting last year.

He asked if it was possible to consult on a Public Spaces Protection Order to make feeding birds subject to the same rules as littering or dog fouling, punishable by a fixed penalty notice.