A man has been banned from his local library in Leicester for a year after complaints - about his body odour.
Stuart Penman, 27, was barred following after a string of complaints from customers and staff about his whiffy feet and sweaty armpits. He uses the computers at Wigston Library in Leicester every day to use the computers but will not be allowed back until his personal hygiene improves. Mr Penman denied that he has a serious problem with body odour - although he did admit that his feet do stink.
"I have a bath every day but I realise my feet do smell," he said. "I live with my mum, who smokes, so I smell like cigarettes. "But I feel I'm being picked on because they don't like me. I went in on Wednesday morning to use the computers and nobody said anything to me and when I went back later that evening I was told I'd been barred. "One of the men who works there took me to one side a few times to speak about it and I appreciated that and would leave and have a wash.
"But some of the women that work there just tell me to get out because I smell, in front of everyone. It's very embarrassing when they do that." Library staff defended the ban and claimed Stuart had been advised about his smell on a number of occasions over the past 12 months but had refused to do anything about it.
Margaret Bellamy, head of library services for Leicestershire County Council, said: "He has been using the library for a while and we've been getting complaints about his personal hygiene for about a year.
"It's not the cigarette smell, it is his body odour.
"We've sat down with him to see what can be done and even asked him if he's been washing, using deodorant and regularly changing his clothes. "We asked him if he minded leaving if people complained about his smell, but recently it's got worse and we've been getting complaints.
"We've had people leaving and saying it's because of the smell. I feel very sorry about the whole situation and it's not a decision we took lightly but we've done all we can to help and it's still not getting any better. "When people were refusing to come into the library we felt we had no other option." Leicestershire County Council, which runs the library, is now writing a formal letter to Stuart confirming the ban.
His girlfriend Laila Spencer, 23, fumed: "We use the library every day to go on the internet. It's very unfair to ban Stuart. "He does wash every day and they never warned us about it. He tries his best to keep clean but he does have a bit of a problem sometimes."
Daily Mail
Stuart Penman, 27, was barred following after a string of complaints from customers and staff about his whiffy feet and sweaty armpits. He uses the computers at Wigston Library in Leicester every day to use the computers but will not be allowed back until his personal hygiene improves. Mr Penman denied that he has a serious problem with body odour - although he did admit that his feet do stink.
"I have a bath every day but I realise my feet do smell," he said. "I live with my mum, who smokes, so I smell like cigarettes. "But I feel I'm being picked on because they don't like me. I went in on Wednesday morning to use the computers and nobody said anything to me and when I went back later that evening I was told I'd been barred. "One of the men who works there took me to one side a few times to speak about it and I appreciated that and would leave and have a wash.
"But some of the women that work there just tell me to get out because I smell, in front of everyone. It's very embarrassing when they do that." Library staff defended the ban and claimed Stuart had been advised about his smell on a number of occasions over the past 12 months but had refused to do anything about it.
Margaret Bellamy, head of library services for Leicestershire County Council, said: "He has been using the library for a while and we've been getting complaints about his personal hygiene for about a year.
"It's not the cigarette smell, it is his body odour.
"We've sat down with him to see what can be done and even asked him if he's been washing, using deodorant and regularly changing his clothes. "We asked him if he minded leaving if people complained about his smell, but recently it's got worse and we've been getting complaints.
"We've had people leaving and saying it's because of the smell. I feel very sorry about the whole situation and it's not a decision we took lightly but we've done all we can to help and it's still not getting any better. "When people were refusing to come into the library we felt we had no other option." Leicestershire County Council, which runs the library, is now writing a formal letter to Stuart confirming the ban.
His girlfriend Laila Spencer, 23, fumed: "We use the library every day to go on the internet. It's very unfair to ban Stuart. "He does wash every day and they never warned us about it. He tries his best to keep clean but he does have a bit of a problem sometimes."
Daily Mail
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