The mother of a Down's syndrome woman has called for an apology from a Devon college after her daughter was excluded from a barbecue.
Shirley Pidner, from Umberleigh, is angry staff at Petroc college in Barnstaple allowed 20-year-old Lisa's classmates not to invite her.
She believes the students did not want Lisa at the barbecue because she has a compulsion to hide people's things.
The college has declined to talk about the matter.
Petroc spokesman Huw Davies said the college provided a "caring, flexible and considered environment" where all its students were treated fairly.
"Whilst I cannot talk about the specifics of this case, my colleagues are working with a vulnerable group of adult learners," he said
"It can sometimes be extremely difficult to balance the needs of individual students with those of their classmates and other learners.
"On the rare occasions where issues like this arise, we are not always able to resolve them to everyone's satisfaction, but we always have the best interests of our learners at heart."
Lisa, who attends Petroc's four days a week and works in a local restaurant one day, was diagnosed with a compulsion addiction which means she often picks things up and hides them.
Ms Pidner said while she accepts Lisa's behaviour could annoy her classmates, she feels the college should have handled matters differently.
'Cruel and barbaric'
Lisa said she wanted to go to the end of term barbecue and it had been upsetting to be excluded.
"I felt terrible. All my friends were going to the barbecue and they voted for me not to go,"
Ms Pidner said not only does she wants the college to explain why it chose this "cruel and barbaric" course of action, she wants an apology for her daughter.
"If the college didn't want her to go, that's on thing, but to actually get the students involved and get them to vote just seems so cruel and unfair."
She has written to the college twice, but has received no reply.
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