Pensioner ejected from Parliament (From Southend Standard)

Pensioner ejected from Parliament

11:20am Wednesday 31st October 2012 in News

A PENSIONER sparked a House of Commons security alert after being ejected from the building amid claims about her behaviour.

Maggie Tuttle, 70, who is campaigning to set up a safe house in Southend for children who have run away from the care system, was booted from the public gallery during a debate on the new family justice bill put forward by MP for Birmingham John Hemmings.

Mrs Tuttle from Poynings Avenue, who denies any wrongdoing, said she was forced to wait outside in freezing conditions for three hours after being escorted away by armed police.

A commons spokesman said: “A member of the public, who refused to give her name, was escorted from the public gallery on Friday following repeated warnings from House of Commons doorkeepers about her behaviour. The same individual attempted to gain access to a private area in another Parliamentary building later that day. I cannot comment further on a security issue.”

Mrs Tuttle said: “It was scandalous, I am 70 years old but had to wait in the cold for the people I was travelling back with. I later tried to get into Portcullis house with my friends where there is a coffee shop only to be surrounded by armed police and thrown out again.”