Readers have called staff behaviour "disgusting" after a woman who suffers from a debilitating neurological condition was refused the use of a store toilet, causing her to wet herself in the middle of a busy shop. Bianca Artwell, 30, suffers from Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) - a condition that affects her nervous system and how her brain and body send and receive signals.
Her symptoms include weakness or paralysis, tremors or tics, difficulty walking, loss of balance, and incontinence. Bianca was recently in her local branch of River Island in Rugby where she was trying to return a pair of shoes for her three-year-old daughter. However, as she approached the till she realised she needed the toilet - something she struggles to control due to her FND.
She said she asked staff to use the store’s toilet, explaining her condition and that she was unable to wait but they refused, saying it was against company policy. Bianca said she was told to go to a café across the road, but as she tried to leave the store she was unable to hold on and wet herself.
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Bianca said that three staff members on the till "just stared" at her and that a manager who was getting ready to leave "instructed them to put a wet floor sign down". She said: "I stood there frozen in complete horror. A staff member came up to me but instead of offering to help she just dropped the wet floor sign next to me and walked away.
"Stood in shock I assumed she must be coming back but instead she and her colleagues carried on their conversation. The manager even walked past me and shouted bye to her colleagues and just looked at me in my mess and left the premises. I stood there frozen in complete horror.
"A staff member came up to me but instead of offering to help she just dropped the wet floor sign next to me and walked away. Stood in shock I assumed she must be coming back but instead she and her colleagues carried on their conversation. The manager even walked past me and shouted bye to her colleagues and just looked at me in my mess and left the premises." You can read the full story here.
Readers have called the behaviour of the staff "disgusting" and "disgraceful." However, others have argued that company policies are to blame. One Facebook user responded to the article saying: "Disgusting behaviour from the staff. I nearly had this issue this morning in Primark however the lovely young lad I spoke to happily escorted me to the staff toilet."
"Why would anyone refuse to allow a human to do a normal bodily function. No one has that right," another reader wrote in response to the article. One Facebook user added: "A bit cruel I think and the way they went about it is a bit extreme, if I'm honest there's not enough toilets in these outlets for people to use if needed."
"Disgusting behaviour from staff. It’s a basic human right to be allowed access to a toilet. Make sure you complain," another Facebook user wrote.
Some readers responded to the article on social media to say that they had had similar experiences. One person wrote: "I remember being refused a staff toilet while I was having diarrhoea it was embarrassing as I had to argue with the staff who still refused me so had to dump my underwear in a bin I felt so ashamed I suffer with IBS."
Another reader called for shops to have toilets for people with disabilities, writing: "I have taken to wearing Incontinent nickers after having been denied access to a toilet in a shop selling pet food. I am disabled. Peed in the bushes b4 [sic] now in desperation. All shops should have toilets for able bodied & disabled people."
However, other readers argued that company policies were at fault. In response to the article, one Facebook user wrote: "Don't blame the staff, blame the policies that companies have. There are many reasons why companies don't allow the use of their toilets. But may be the real issue here is that there is not enough public toilets."
Another Facebook user wrote that it could be a health and safety issue for stores: "Unfortunately it’s a security and H&S issue for some stores. Staff toilets are often tucked away upstairs and it could put both staff and the premises at risk if someone is given access."
One reader added: "It's awful what has happened to this lady but the staff at the store were doing their job unfortunately. I have worked in retail & your are told that no customers are to use staff toilets. Maybe the staff were afraid of losing their jobs if they'd allowed this lady to use the toilets."
Another reader who said that they had worked in retail similarly wrote: "I have worked in retail. Unfortunately due to health and safety we were not allowed to let customers use the staff toilets."
Some readers said that shopping areas should have more public toilets, with one Facebook user writing: "A lot of shopping centres either have too few public toilets or they're closed for 'refurb' - plus you often have to walk down several twisting corridors to find one. Even for someone with good health it's a challenge."
Another reader added: "Unfortunately things like this happen. Instead of slating companies like River Island who don't provide public toilets, You should instead aim your frustrations towards local councils who have sold off/closed the public toilets.
"As someone that works in retail we aren't allowed (Company policy/Health & Safety/Security reasons) to allow a member of the public to use our toilet. And this is probably the same for all other shop that do not provide toilets for the general public."
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