A FURIOUS mum is calling on shopkeepers to clamp down on children spending money on Pokemon game cards after her 11-year-old son blew £50 in just 10 days.

Vicky Farrimond was horrified when she discovered eldest son Dominic was sneaking out of the house to spend his money at the Game Mania shop on Bury Road.

Staff admitted that some youngsters are going in every day to buy the cards.

The Blackshaw School pupil already had a collection of the coveted cards worth more than £200 and Vicky and partner Rob Jones had banned him from buying any more.

But for his birthday last week friends and relatives gave him a total of £150.

The schoolboy, who recently started playing football for Bolton County, spent most of it on sports equipment but had £50 left.

Unknown to his parents Dominic took his cash from his Kilmory Drive, Breightmet home and went on a Pokemon spending splurge over a number of days.

Dominic was finally caught yesterday by his angry father after he discovered the boy had bought more cards and had just 90p left.

"It is like an addiction," said Vicky.

"He would rather sneak off and suffer the consequences.

"I would like the shops to be more responsible and if a kid is spending that amount of money I would like them to make sure a parent is there."

Vicky said Dominic was not interested in the trading card craze until five months ago when he became obsessed with the Rocket shiny special edition cards, sold individually and range in price from £2.50 to £12 each.

She said: "He gets £5 a week pocket money but he never has any money because he spends it all on cards.

"This seems to have taken over his life altogether.

"It is not just me that this is happening to.

"All the parents are sick of it."

Vicky took Dominic's latest purchase of four cards back to Game Mania where manager Catherine Camps gave her a full refund and agreed not to sell Dominic any more.

Mrs Camps said several parents have complained about children buying the cards without their knowledge, but in each case refunds have been given.

She said: "I can understand the parents are getting angry.

"I would never let my kids spend that amount of money on cards."

She stressed that most children visit the shop with their parents who buy them for them and even some adults spend large amounts of money on the collectables for themselves.

And she added that children who visit the shop on their own to buy cards with more than a couple of pounds usually have an explanation for their spending.

Some children are visiting the shop every day but she says staff will always abide by parents' wishes.

She said: "If we are told not to sell the cards then we won't do."