A father has spoken of his outrage after his 13-year-old daughter was attacked by bullies in Waterstones in the Southside Shopping Centre.

Dean Cayol, 33, claimed staff refused to help his daughter when she was set upon by four older teenagers in the Wandsworth shop on the afternoon of Saturday, November 22.

Mr Cayol, a media project manager, said his daughter visited Cineworld in the shopping centre to watch the new Hunger Games film with a group of school friends. During the film a group of older teenagers were thrown out for disturbing other customers and shining lasers on the screen.

At the end of the film, when Mr Cayol’s daughter went to leave the cinema, the group of three girls and one boy set upon her in the foyer, accusing her of telling them to shut-up during the film. Before that afternoon she had never seen them before.

Mr Cayol said: “She told them ‘I don’t know what you mean, sorry’ and she tried to walk off. They followed my daughter and her friends into Waterstones.

“The group approached my daughter again and blocked her way and said ‘you did say that, don’t lie, we saw you’ and went for her neck and her hair. They stamped on her foot and pulled her hair down to the ground.

“My daughter tried to move away and her friends were terrified. The first thing she thought to do was to go to the staff and said ‘I need help - this group are harassing me’. But the store staff said it is not their problem and the parents in there also told them to leave.

“My daughter was left there terrified not knowing what to do. She ran back in hysterics to Cineworld. The group of bullies returned to the outside of the cinema and were telling them to come outside and to fight. They took off their belts.”

The girl, who was in hysterics, called her parents who came to pick her up but were outraged the shopping centre’s security team had not been informed of the assault.

Mr Cayol approached staff in Waterstones and said: “The lady in question said she thought it was just horseplay.

“She’s fine now but she’s still a bit shaken up. She doesn’t want to go out by herself. She was terrified. Not one person came to help her.

“My daughter is 13 and quite a small 13-year-old. The group of teenagers were about 17 or 18 years old.”

Mr Cayol said he had been offered a £10 book voucher by Waterstones.

A Waterstones spokesman said the store was sorry Mr Cayol’s daughter had such an unpleasant experience.

Bookshop manager Rick Green said: “I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for any misunderstandings.

“We take customer feedback very seriously and we have taken action to ensure an incident like this will not be repeated. Customer safety and service are of the highest importance to all at Waterstones.”