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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Jess Molyneux

Woman 'humiliated' in bar toilets after being accused of taking too long

A woman claims she was "humiliated" after a staff member went to check on her in the toilets that had been locked for "ten minutes."

The woman, who attended Empire bar on Westfield Street in St Helens on Saturday, August 28, said she felt "degraded" when a member of staff and later bouncers knocked on door of her toilet cubicle.

In a post uploaded to a local Facebook group, the woman said her "colostomy bag leaked" and that's why she was taking so long in the toilets.

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In response, Empire claims a barmaid went into the toilet and knocked on the door to which there was no reply. After knocking again they said a woman replied saying "F*CK OFF I'M DOING MY BAG."

The popular bar said as a precaution the barmaid got security staff as she thought she was "taking drugs" and described the incident as a "misunderstanding."

The woman's post reads: "I have never been so degraded or discriminated in all my life.

"The bar Empire in Westfield street St Helens have had a go at me for being in the toilet too long because my colostomy bag leaked and I was cleaning myself and changing my bag they banged on the toilet door after being in there for five mins by the manager and three bouncers.

"I had to be degraded and show them my bag which they insisted on this was totally embarrassing and degrading I asked where is a bin to put my bag and they said outside so I had to let the bouncers on the door know I was just going to the bin in the street to dispose of it as there is no bins in Empire.

"The bouncer was rude and said back to me whatever you're saying that so you don’t after queue and you're making up a sh*t tale to get back in and I bet it is a lie so had to show my colostomy bag to go back in after going to the street to a bin to put my bag in.

"I spoke to the owner who was not helpful at all and said well you shouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes in the toilet and that’s the way it is.

"I told him how I was treated by all his staff and degraded that I had to show my bag to more or less all his staff this proper upset me.

"I’m so disgusted and annoyed at their behaviour and the way they treated me and my disability. It’s disgusting and disrespectful and humiliating, discriminated against me."

In response, Empire put the following post on social media yesterday.

It reads: "Hiya, so I guess everyone has seen the post that's been going around on Facebook this morning. So just to get the story straight we will explain the events of what actually happened.

"One of our customers last night came up to the bar and asked one of the staff (not the manager) could they check a toilet cubicle because the door had be locked for around 10/15 minutes and there was no response from there.

"The barmaid went into the toilet and knocked on the door to which there was no reply. The barmaid then knocked again to which she got a reply telling her to "F*CK OFF I'M DOING MY BAG" so as a precaution the barmaid got the security staff as she thought she was taking drugs.

"No one asked the female in question to show her disability she took it upon herself to show the staff.

"After this incident happened the female in question stayed in the bar drinking and then when she decided to leave she spoke to the manager and the owner outside the premises to explain what happened.

"The manager and the owner apologised for the misunderstanding as replying to the bar staff saying "f*ck off I'm doing my bag" isn't really the right answer to shout.

"The female in question then agreed with us and accepted our apology as did we when she apologised for speaking to the staff in the way she did. We do not discriminate anyone! We have a disabled facility that could have been used in the situation and this incident would not have occurred and we also have bins in our toilets including our disabled toilet.

"We know everyone only hears one side to every story so we would like to put the real events of what happened last night as we would never discriminate any of our customers and we would never intend to do so. Thankyou x."

The ECHO approached Empire who said that staff regularly check the toilet facilities.

They added that CCTV shows the woman in question staying at the premises drinking for nearly two hours after the incident. The manager and owner is said to have spoken to the woman before she left to resolve the misunderstanding, in which they say the woman apologised for how she spoke to a member of staff.

The ECHO approached the woman for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

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