A BAN on wearing "hoodies" in the Trafford Centre and other shopping venues has caused outcry on all sides, from those with a flog 'em attitude who believe it doesn't go far enough to those who believe it is unfairly demonising our youth - and everyone in between.

To see how it felt to wear one of these supposedly anti-social garments, I donned a baggy hooded sweatshirt and headed to Dumplington.

While centre bosses are concerned that hoods and low caps can obscure faces from CCTV cameras, I was more concerned that the shopping centre was obscured from me - my range of vision seemed to have shrunk to a semicircular ahead-only view.

And it wasn't as though I could listen out for shoppers I couldn't see, because my hearing was also impeded by the cloth either side of my head.

I hadn't really expected to get far inside the centre without being asked to remove the hood, and after about two minutes I was hoping I wouldn't as the inside of my sweater became hotter and hotter.

But no eyelid was even slightly batted, despite my best stroppy teenager face, worn in an attempt to live up to the supposedly- intimidating image of my attire.

I did my best to stare at other shoppers to see how they responded to my anonymous state but, annoyingly, no-one paid me any attention.

Of course, there will have been plenty of people I didn't see, like anyone on either side of or behind me.

I was able to stroll through the Orient and down to either end of the shopping centre with no fuss, until I heard a loud "Excuse me" to my right.

I turned, ready to agree to remove my hood, only to find the voice had come from a gentleman who wanted to discuss whether I was in need of a new credit card, who asked if I was over 21. I declined politely, concealing my delight at being mistaken for a youngster, and walked on.

I even remembered a friend's birthday and popped into a card shop, where I was served politely and with no comment on my choice of headwear.

After 20 minutes in the centre, boiling hot and determined to make myself conspicuous, I decided to walk slowly past the customer service desk. Shortly afterwards I heard a noise behind me.

I tried to turn, but could only see inside of my hoodie, so I slowed down until a polite security guard caught up with me and asked if I would mind removing the hood, unless it was for medical reasons.

I agreed immediately, and before it was even down he had headed back to his station.

While no-one would suggest a hoodie guarantees the wearer to be a perpetrator of anti-social behaviour, wearing one certainly feels like an anti-social act, and is distinctly uncomfortable indoors. But I can't see how having partial vision and hearing would help anyone commit a crime.

Gordon McKinnon, director of operations at the Trafford Centre, said: "Many people feel intimidated by large groups of people hanging around, especially if they are wearing hoods, so we banned hoods, caps worn low, balaclavas and crash helmets. This ban has been in place since we opened seven years ago and it has worked to curb anti-social behaviour."

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