A disgruntled dad has asked for a change in school policy - after his eight-year son was suspended for bringing a toy gun into school.

While schools have taken a strict line on toy guns, some of which can look frighteningly like the real thing, in this case it was only a couple of centimetres long. The gun belonged to a GI Joe figure, the American equivalent of our Action Man.

Aron Anderson admits his son was wrong to take the toy to school, Duniway Elementary in Portland, Oregon, but says the punishment was too severe, when no one could have mistaken it for a real weapon.

The school board agreed to consider his request to call a parent conference on the issue.