A devastated daughter has spoken of her dismay when her parents’ diamond wedding celebration ended with a visit from the police.

Karen Adams, 50, organised a special 60th anniversary party for her parents Geoff, 80, and Betty, 81, at the Waterend Barn in St Albans - the pub where they had first met 65 years previously.

After three months of meticulous planning and arranging with the manager, Karen was sure she was going to give her parents the celebration they deserved.

But that did not prove to be the case as Karen and her family were ordered to leave the premises at 9pm by security staff who then called the police to intervene.

Karen said: “My parents can’t even talk about it. You don’t want a celebration with police turning up at the end of it.

“I can’t put it into words how I feel about [pub owners] JD Wetherspoon right now.”

The family were told that the six children present at the party had to leave the building because of a licensing agreement.

Karen said: “People had come from all over the country and they were telling me that the children, including my own, would have to leave!

“This was my parents’ anniversary, I was not going to put my children out in the street!

“It was horrendous, I had six children and nowhere to take them.”

The party took place in a private room and the family had barely reached their desserts before they were told by security staff to escort their children out of the premises.

Karen continued: “They weren’t running around the place, they were in our private room having dinner and all of them were over 10 years old.

“One of the security guards saw a boy go to the toilet; that’s the only reason she knew they were there.”

The family had to pack up the party early but before they had a chance to leave, the security staff had taken the drastic step to call the police in order that they might be escorted out of the building.

Karen added: “I couldn’t believe the police were called. There are people getting mugged in the street and they turn up for this.”

Karen said that the staff at the pub were brilliant throughout the ordeal but it was the management and security who were to blame.

“Three months of planning and going over every detail, and the manager never thought to mention this?

“If I had known that this was their policy, I wouldn’t have booked it, simple.”

JD Wetherspoon spokesperson Eddie Gershon said that the decision was taken in accordance with the licensing law of the Waterend Barn, which states that customers under the age of 18 must leave the premises at the agreed time.

He added: “It is not our intention to upset our customers; however in this instance we fully support the actions taken by the management team at the pub.”