NEW mum Heidi Shepherd was forced to leave her three-day-old baby with a stranger when she registered her birth. Ms Shepherd, 28, and partner Martin Dodd, 42, had to register their daughter’s birth at the new court building, but the lifts were broken.

Baby Aiyah was sleeping and they did not want to wake her by taking her out of the pram and up the stairs.

Then a receptionist offered to help.

‘She suggested that we leave the baby with her because she used to be a childminder, but she was still a stranger and I was not happy about leaving my baby,’ said Ms Shepherd.

‘I’m quite trusting but you get people who won’t be and we’ve got to be careful no matter where you are in the world.’

This was not the only problem the couple faced during their 30-minute visit to the Greffe.

‘When we arrived we tried to get in through the automatic revolving door, but the buggy was too big.’

Ms Shepherd then had to walk through the building and open the disabled door for her partner to wheel the buggy through.

‘I was not impressed: they have got to make it easier. What would happen if you get a mother on her own and she has a couple of toddlers with her? It’s going to be awful for her. I’m just thankful my partner was with me.’

Ms Shepherd said that if there had been a note on the door to warn people that the lift was broken she would have registered on another day.

‘It was all a bit of a nightmare. In the old building the Greffe was on the ground level and there were two big manual doors, which were easy to get a buggy through.

‘The new building had only been open a few weeks – paid for by taxpayers’ money,’ she said.

Director of administration at the Royal Court Alastair Ford said that arrangements have been put in place to help the public in such situations and he was not sure why Ms Shepherd had not been offered them.

‘Although it appears that the public lift was out of order on this occasion, we can and do make arrangements for individuals to be escorted through the private areas of the building to use the lifts there,’ he said.

‘One of the main design criteria for the building has been to ensure that all parts of it are accessible for individuals with mobility problems.’

There is an ordinary door adjacent to the revolving one but it remains locked unless required for public use.

Mr Ford said that it was not necessary for both parents to be present at the same time.

‘Although both have to have their signatures witnessed by a deputy registrar or deputy greffier, they do not both have to sign the registration documents at the same time.’