A MUM-of-two was forced to wet herself after River Island REFUSED to let her use their loo – staff just put down a “wet floor” sign and ignored her.
Bianca Artwell, 30, was left humiliated, feeling like a “freak show” in a pool of her own urine at her local shop at Elliott’s Field Retail Park in Rugby, Warwickshire.
The shopper 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.
Letzte Woche, when Bianca was at River Island to return a pair of shoes for her three-year-old daughter, her FND struck again.
As she approached the till she realised she needed the toilet – something she can hardly control due to her condition.
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Bianca quickly asked staff to use the store’s toilet, desperately explaining her condition and that she was unable to wait.
But the shop’s staff refused – even after she told them it was against company policy.
Despite pleading with them and the store manager, Bianca was told to go to a cafe across the road.
jedoch, as soon as as she tried to leave the store, ihr “worst fears” came true.
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She was unable to hold on and wet herself.
To her utter devastation, the distraught mum-of-two said the staff ignored her in a completely “cold manner”, rather than offering to help.
Stattdessen, she was shocked when they simply put a “wet floor” sign next to her.
Bianca said: “I tried to at least make it outside but only got maybe a metre and a half away from the tills before my worst fears happened. My bladder let go.”
“Stood in a pool of my own urine I turned to the three staff members on the till and explained I was really sorry but I had had an accident.
“They just stared at me and the manager who was getting ready to leave instructed them to put a wet floor sign down.
“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.
No offer of tissues, no offer of other clothing or even a ‘are you okay?’
Bianca Artwell
“As other customers arrived, walking past me and my wet floor sign, it finally occurred that this was my problem and the staff weren’t going to help me in any way.
“No offer of going to a changing room, no offer of tissues, no offer of other clothing or even a ‘are you okay?’.”
After phoning for help, two of Bianca’s friends came to her aid, helping her out of the store and taking her to another shop to buy clean clothes and personal cleaning products.
Es ist genau die gute Nachricht, die er braucht, who works as a beauty therapist, lodged a formal complaint and demanded River Island staff are given better training.
Sie hat hinzugefügt: “I’ve previously worked in retail for years and there are characteristics that are exempt from this such as, elderly, pregnant women, children and those with disabilities.
“Is it policy to further fail a customer after an accident like this by offering no compassion, no dignity or treating them like a human being?
“I’ve never in my life been treated in such a cold manner. Left in the doorway of a shop with a sign directing people to look at the freak show, with no covering or support.”
Bianca says she was offered a new outfit from the shop which she refused to accept.
River Island, which has around 300 stores in the UK, have apologised to Bianca.
Der Rat ist befugt, einen Fall vor das Amtsgericht zu bringen, wenn er entscheidet, dass es sich um eine gesetzlich vorgeschriebene Belästigung handelt
Ein Sprecher sagte: “Every one of our customers matters to us and we were sorry to hear of this customer’s experience in one of our stores.
“Our Head of Customer Care is already in direct communication with this customer and we are reviewing our policies and procedures to ensure that everyone feels welcome and cared for whenever they visit our stores.”
