A YORK mother has branded a clothes store advertising promotion "disgusting" after a condom was placed inside a bag containing a top she bought for her 11-year-old daughter.

The woman, 44, who did not want to be named, said she was horrified when her daughter came to her with a card printed with the phrases Expect the Unexpected, and Feeling Dirty?, with a blue-coloured condom attached to it.

It had been placed inside the carrier bag along with a child's top that the woman had bought for her daughter at Ted Baker at the MacArthur Glen designer outlet in Fulford at the weekend.

But the shop manager, John Abbot, said that although the store holds regular special promotions with a range of giveaways, they are not aimed at the children's department and this incident had been a one-off mistake.

The girl, who attends a primary school on the outskirts of the city, asked her shocked mother what the condom was but she told her it was a balloon. Then she got straight onto the store manager to complain.

She said: "She has learned about the facts of life at school and I like to think that they do tell them certain things about precautions.

"But at 11 years old I don't really want to go into that until she goes to secondary school - that's my choice.

"At the end of the day it's my choice if I want to tell her or not, I don't expect to find condoms in a clothes bag with an item of clothing.

"I phoned up the manager and he did apologise and he said he would talk to his staff about it."

The woman is now writing to the director of the company to voice her concerns.

Mr Abbot said: "We have condoms that we give away, that's the same as any other Ted Baker store, obviously not for children, we wouldn't put something like that in the bag.

"Obviously it wasn't an intentional thing to do."

Updated: 09:03 Thursday, May 23, 2002