Samantha Clark, 29, from Long Melford, was visiting a retail park in Ipswich for the first time since becoming pregnant other than to go to hospital appointments and had gone into a Salvation Army charity shop to browse for more comfortable clothing when she suddenly needed to use the toilet.
Samantha Clark was refused entry into the Salvation Army toilets (Image: Samantha Clark)
Despite explaining her situation, her request was denied by staff both downstairs and on the first floor.
Ms Clark said: “I’m 20 weeks pregnant – I don’t like trying to find somewhere to go to the toilet anyway since being pregnant so it was the first time I’ve been out in a while.
The outfit Ms Clark was wearing at the time of the incident. (Image: Samantha Clark)
“In the moment I thought there’s a stigma around shops letting you use toilets when you’re pregnant and it’s now put me off going out again.
“It really disheartened me.”
The new flagship store replaces Next in Suffolk Retail Park. (Image: Dan Laughlan)
She later went to The Range, where staff allowed her to use their staff toilet.
Ms Clark said: “I ended up going in the Range, they didn’t have any problem whatsoever letting me use the staff toilet, they responded with a simple of course you can.
“Considering charities are here to help people. I know business have policies but they had not one thought about helping me.
“I even asked the female staff I thought they would be more sympathetic they still just said no.”
(Image: Dan Laughlan)
A spokesperson for the Salvation Army said: “We aim to do the best for our customers and visitors to our stores but sadly this customer’s experience didn’t reflect this, and for this we are very sorry.
“We have spoken with the local team to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”