WHEN Karen McFarlane came out of her bingo club she was not surprised to see she had been given a parking ticket.

But when the two police officers standing by her car summoned her over she was stunned to be told she had an offensive weapon in the back.

When Mrs McFarlane, 38, a sales support agent from Park North, asked what the problem was the officers pointed to a plastic sword belonging to her seven-year-old son Jake.

The incident happened at 9.10pm on Thursday night in Princes Street in the town centre when Mrs McFarlane came out of the Mecca Bingo Club.

The officers then told the shocked Mrs McFarlane that she could be arrested if she did not put the flimsy foot long toy in her boot.

She said: "I was not surprised to get a parking ticket because I deserved one and when the officers called me over I thought I was going to get a ticking off about it.

"But they told me that I had an offensive weapon in the back of my car and it was an arrestable offence if I didn't put it in my boot.

"When I came into work this morning everyone thought it was hysterical.

"But there is a serious point to it. I bet hundreds of parents in the town must have their children's toys in the back of their car and someone could end up in trouble. I can't believe the police didn't have something better to do."

Mrs McFarlane said her son got the sword while on a pirate game organised during a recent holiday to Majorca.

The sword has a rounded end and Mrs McFarlane says that if you did attempt to stab someone with it the 'weapon' would "probably just bend and break".

She lives with her partner Ian Clark and her sons Jake, seven and Thomas, nine.

Ian, 37, said: "When Karen came home I was gobsmacked, I thought the police would have better things to do with their time.

"I don't know what to say, it's almost like you can't leave the house without getting nicked."

No one was available to comment from Swindon police.