A disabled woman was left in tears after claiming an M&S staff member made cruel remarks about her appearance.
Tay Beales was out shopping at Marks and Spencer with her girlfriend Freya Baldwinson, 26, on Tuesday, when the pair needed the bathroom. The 22-year-old went to use the disabled toilets but claims an M&S staff member stepped in and told her 'you're not disabled', before ordering her to use the male bathrooms.
The epilepsy sufferer claims she walked in to find a male urinating so left and rushed into the women's toilets. But as she waited for a cubicle, she claims the same member of staff was convinced she was 'a boy' so refused to let her use the ladies and told her to use the disabled loos - before calling her 'him' to a member of the public.
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Tay is now sharing her 'humiliating' experience to shed light on what she believes is 'discrimination' against 'hidden disabilities and the LGBTQ community. M&S have apologised to Tay and said that they have a 'zero tolerance approach to discrimination' across their stores.
Tay alleged the incident was 'an example of homophobia as well as disability discrimination'. "She clearly had a problem with everything as she kept ushering me to different toilets. I've been misgendered before but it wasn't malicious. This lady was completely rude, it was the way she was ushering me from one place to the other.
"It's embarrassing and humiliating. There are five toilets in use in the women's toilets so everyone could hear it as well.
"I just want to spread awareness for people with hidden disabilities and LGBTQ community because we shouldn’t be treated differently. I want people to be aware of it and help people in the future."
Tay and Freya were perusing the home section when they stopped by the toilets before planning to go about their day - but she claims she left the store feeling 'uncomfortable' and 'cr**py'.
Tay said: "Me and my girlfriend went into M&S to look at the home stuff because we're looking to move. My girlfriend needed the toilet so I thought I might as well go with her. I went to open the disabled toilet door and the member of staff said 'no, you can't go in there, you're not disabled'.
"My girlfriend waited because she heard I couldn't go in. I went to say 'it says on your door, 'not every disability is visible'. Before I got the chance, she was ushering me into another toilet. I opened the door and there was a man taking a pee in the urinals with his genitals out.
"I felt uncomfortable because that's not the right toilet for me. I went to open the door of the women's and the lady who told me to go in [the men's] was in there. She was like 'no, no, you can't go in here, use the disabled toilet'.
"Even after I'd corrected her [saying] 'I'm a girl', I had to go back and use the disabled toilet. It was so contradicting. I felt really embarrassed and my girlfriend probably did because she had to stick up for me.
"It feels a bit cr**py to know I can't go in that toilet, or another one, or another. All I needed was the toilet." As Tay left the toilets, she claims she heard the female shop worker discussing her gender identity with another customer - before accusing her of 'lying' about her disability.
The shaken pair then went to complain in store, but Tay claims they still hadn't received a call from management as of Wednesday evening. Tay said: "She was determined I was a boy. The lady was having a conversation with a customer who said 'I can't believe you let the boy use the ladies toilet'.
"The worker replied 'no, he wasn't. I told him he couldn't. That's why I sent him to the disabled toilet'. Then she said 'he lied about having a disability'.
"After it happened, my girlfriend said it was totally unacceptable and really rude. After she came out of the toilet, she said to the woman worker 'that's my girlfriend, she is a girl and she's not lying about having a disability'.
"It completely went straight over her head. We went down and complained. We spoke to a member of staff who said he didn't know how to deal with this so he was going to get another member of staff.
"This was in the middle of the shop floor, so I had to explain it once to him, then again while people were shopping right next to tills. He said 'sorry, is there anything else we can do?' We said we weren't happy about it and would be writing a formal complaint to head office.
"We sent a formal complaint to the CEO and haven't heard anything from the store." An M&S spokesperson said: "We have a zero tolerance approach to discrimination across M&S and we always work to ensure that our stores are welcoming for everyone.
"We are very sorry that Tay's experience did not meet the high standards of customer service that we set for ourselves, and for the
upset that this caused. We have spoken today with Tay to apologise directly and she has accepted a gesture of apology."
