M&S has apologised to a shopper after allegedly misgendering her and failing to believe she was disabled.
The upmarket clothing and food retailer left the woman feeling 'upset and embarrassed' due to the incident where she was stopped from using the disabled bathroom facilities.
Tay Beales, 22, was shopping with her girlfriend Freya when the incident occurred at around 2pm on May 17.
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The couple, who are set to move into a new home together, were enjoying their day out looking for homeware items.
However, their trip was ruined when Tay, who has epilepsy, went to used the disabled bathroom - but refused entry a staff member who said she was 'not disabled', Devon Live reports.
Tay said: "Freya went into the ladies toilet and the M&S woman was standing in front of the disabled toilet and so I opened the handle and she said: 'No, no, no, you're not going in there. You're not disabled.'
"I said to her I am disabled, I have epilepsy, a sign on the door even said that 'not every disability is visible'. Then she told me 'no, you need to go in there' and shooed me into the men's like cattle.
" I didn't know that I was going into the men's at this point. I got in there and there was a man having a wee.
"I felt uncomfortable and walked back out and went into the ladies toilet.
"This staff member then saw me again and said 'no you need to go to the disabled' and again, shooed me out the ladies loo like cattle. In the moment it wasn't that I was angry; I felt upset and embarrassed.
"I was trying not to cry. When I was trying to explain what happened I was choked up.."Speaking to Devon Live, Tay's girlfriend Freya said that she was using the toilet when the incident took place, but claims she caught a customer gossiping with the staff member when she came out.
Freya said: "I could hear the customer talking to the employee and the customer said 'I can't believe you have let a man into the toilet'
The staff member then said 'She's not a man and I didn't know where to put her, she said she's disabled but she's not'.
The customer started asking if she thought Tay was a man or a woman and then I intervened."
In utter disbelief, Freya and Tay went to speak with another member of staff to complain.
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Tay said: "We went and spoke to a manager who apologised. It was only after we told the manager that we were going to make a formal complaint, did they take my contact details. I don't think the manager took the incident seriously."
Following the incident, a spokesperson for M&S has told Devon Live: "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.”
