A mum has spoken out after saying a shop boss refused to consider her for a job because she had a young child.

Samantha Sellen, said she popped her head round the door of Swaines in Tenterden on Saturday to ask about a job as a sales assistant in the menswear emporium.

The mother-of-one, who lives in St Benet’s Way, Tenterden, said: “I stepped into Swaines’ doorway to ask about the hours of the job that was advertised and spoke to the owner David Swaine who told me that I wouldn’t be suitable.

“I just couldn’t believe it when he said to me ‘I’m sorry, I probably wouldn’t employ you because you have a child and you would probably have to take time off when she was sick.’”

Samantha, who wants to return to work as her three-year-old daughter Aleisha starts school in September, said: “I was in a state of shock about what had been said. Nothing like that has even been said to me before but now the anger is building up.”

The 28-year-old added: “I have always been brought up to work for a living. I started with a paper round at the age of 11 and then did apple-picking as a teenager.

“I want to go back to work to give my daughter a brighter future and to be a role model for her when she grows up, so she can see that you can be a mother and work too.”

Samantha’s partner Andrew Pye, 38, has just got a new job working in administration of the Child Support Agency in Hastings, and the move prompted her to think about restarting her own career.

Before Samantha became a mum she worked as a shop assistant in Tesco, Tenterden, for five years, afterwards switching to a career as a carer, working for Mears Care, based in North Street, Ashford and the Nurse Plus agency.

She said: “I felt like I wanted to speak out to highlight to other parents that this has happened and that they shouldn’t accept it.”

The 65-year-old owner of Swaines, David Swaine, said: “It’s actually true and I can’t deny that I said it but I would like to apologise to the young lady.”

He said that he had been caught off-guard by the impromptu conversation in the doorway of his shop and added: “As the job is in our menswear department I had it in my mind to give the opportunity to a school leaver who could learn the menswear trade, so that’s why I said it.”

Mr Swaine began work as a Saturday boy in his grandfather’s shop Swaines, which was established in 1935, starting there full-time in 1972.

He said that he had already had a lot of inquiries for the job and didn’t want to disappoint Samantha. He said: “It was a loose inquiry and I hadn’t given it much thought.”