A Muslim father has called for an investigation into a Keighley nursery he claims let his three-year-old son eat ham and non-halal meat on two separate occasions.

Abdul Shukoor, of Paget Street, has sent Ayaan to Strong Close Nursery, on Airedale Road, for over a year, but pulled him out after the latest incident.

He claims nursery staff failed to ensure his son sticks to his religion’s dietary rules and also regularly serve vegetarian meat substitutes to Muslim pupils instead of halal food.

He has written to Keighley MP Kris Hopkins about the issue and will tomorrow meet with managers of the company that runs the nursery, educational charity the Pre School Learning Alliance, to discuss his complaints.

Muslims are not allowed to eat pork or ham as part of their religion and any other meat they eat must be prepared using traditional halal preparation methods.

Mr Shukoor says Ayaan is too young to know what not to eat and feels it is up to the nursery to make sure he sticks to his religious diet. Mr Shukoor says he and his wife Robina Yunis have been left “devastated and very upset” by the incidents.

When he visited in November, he found his son eating ham from a ham pasta served on a table he was sat at.

He said: “I visited to see how he was getting on and he had ham on his plate and in his hands. There were staff sitting on his table, but they hadn’t done anything about it.

“I met with the area manager after that and made some suggestions and they have been totally disregarded. My wife walked in last week and found he was eating non-halal chicken.”

He is also unhappy that his son is regularly served vegetarian products like Quorn as a substitute for halal meat.

“I’m thinking of taking the nursery to court over discrimination. We pay the same and they are providing meat for non-Muslim children, but not Muslim children. Why are our children being served vegetarian food?

“The school needs to work along with us. A lot of the children at the nursery are Muslim.

“It shouldn’t have happened the first time, let alone twice. How can we make sure it doesn't happen again? We had to pull him out and it will take a lot of reassurance to send him back. We pay the same as everyone else for him to go, so it is discrimination for them not to provide meat in his diet.”

A spokesman for the Alliance said: “We’re aware of the allegations made by Mr Shukoor and can confirm that they are the subject of an internal investigation in line with the charity’s complaints procedure.

“We take all complaints seriously and are committed to a full and thorough investigation.

“We can also confirm that in line with policy and procedures, we have made Ofsted, the regulating body, aware of these allegations.”