Mayor banned from breast-feeding in her limousine wins £200,000 damages

Pauleen Lane says a senior official complained about her when she fed her baby son outside the council chamber and then, after she was elected mayor, she was warned she could not take him in the civic car.

Instead, she was told she would have to follow behind in her own car to appointments, while the chauffeured official vehicle carried only her chain of office.

A sex discrimination case was brought to court but Dr Lane offered to settle if the council gave £5,000 to a charity.

Scroll down for more

However, the offer was rejected and yesterday - two years later - a judge ordered the Conservative-run authority to pay £7,000 damages to Dr Lane and cover her costs of up to £200,000.

During the case at Salford County Court there were claims that the mayor's male assistants disapproved of "acting as babysitters" and that other councillors had suggested she switch to bottle-feeding.

Though the council admitted discrimination, there was anger among members

at the outcome of the case.

Leader of the ruling Tory group Susan Williams said Dr Lane had shown a complete disregard for those she represented, depriving vulnerable groups of funds.

"This case should never have come to court," she added. "It would seem that Councillor Lane has sought to make a political issue out of what is a personal matter."

Dr Lane, 43, said: "I'm really relieved. The case has been going on for two years."

The Labour member says her ordeal began when she was seen nursing her son Oscar in the foyer of the council chamber at Trafford Town Hall before she was elected mayor.

Senior mayoral official Elaine Hill was said to have formally complained about her.

Dr Lane, a civil engineer and university lecturer, said: "She said she

found breastfeeding offensive and that it should be banned, yet the council was always sending out press releases saying it supported breastfeeding. All I was doing was discreetly feeding Oscar while getting on with my job."

Shortly afterwards, when Dr Lane was appointed mayor for 2005/2006, she was informed she would not be able to use the mayoral car when with the baby - then two months old - for health and safety reasons.

She said: "I was told I would have to travel with Oscar in my own car. The official car would park in the space at the event and I would have to find my own space and pay for the parking.

"I would arrive at the event, the chain would be put round my neck at the start, taken off at the end and then I would make my way back to my car. It was ridiculous."

On one occasion, Dr Lane said she was forced to use the mayoral car at the last minute due to problems with her own vehicle.

She said: "I was still summoned to the town hall and told not to do it again."

Dr Lane hopes the ruling will encourage other mothers to breastfeed.

She said: "I did it because it was best for my baby. It wasn't about me making a huge issue."

Trafford Council chief executive David McNulty said: "This should never have come to court. We take our equalities duties very seriously."