Anybody who has, or knows someone who has, a child with a disability will know that things don't always go smoothly when you're dining out. Any two and a half-year-old child, disabled or not, can be a handful and is more than capable of making a mess in a pub or restaurant. Joanne told Philip Boucher Hayes on Monday's Liveline that she was out having breakfast with her son, her mother and her sister. Her son – who's on the autistic spectrum – likes to play with his food and when Joanne and her family got up to leave, there was a small amount of food on the floor, beside her son's high chair, which Joanne's mother began to pick up. That's when the owner of the premises came over to them. He "told her to stop what she was doing and we were not welcome in his pub anymore."

"I was mortified. His tone, the way he approached us. My son got very upset. He's not used to shouting."

Joanne told Philip that the man was aggressive and told her he had pictures of food that her son had previously dropped on the floor. There were quite a few people in the pub and Joanne felt embarrassed, as well as concerned for her son, who was in his mother's arms while the owner's tirade went on.

"No matter if you're autistic or a normal child, you shouldn't be approached in that manner in front of a lot of people."

Being understandably eager to put a stop to the unwelcome intervention by the pub owner, Joanne said she told him that she was a frequent customer of his premises.

"I was like, look we come up here on a regular basis. And he said, it doesn't matter. I don't need your money."

The owner didn't seem to be at all concerned by the small child Joanne was holding, he just wanted the four of them gone. He told Joanne that he had lots of children in his pub, but hers was the only one who made a mess. She tried to explain that her son had a slight disability, but the owner didn't seem to care. He continued:

"You should be watching your children. My staff aren't here to clean up after your children."

(To which Philip could only respond, "well, actually they are".)

The episode has made Joanne nervous about going out to a bar or restaurant with her son.

"Just because one child is okay and another child's not okay, they shouldn't be any different or treated any differently."

It sounds like the sort of ordeal that no parent should have to put up with, let alone a parent of a child with a disability.  You can listen back to Joanne's call with Philip and the rest of Monday's Liveline here.