Gym response to being flashed in ladies changing room?

I would contact the Gym head office and also report the incident to the police so that with the cooperation of the gym and CCTV footage the culprit can be identified and dealt with. Surely if there is a scanned entry point then they will know who was in the premises at the time of the incident.

It matters because the gym staff have told the OP that they have reviewed the CCTV and no males entered the changing room. That’s obviously wrong as the OP was flashed by a male. So if the OP wants to get this resolved then it would help to work out why the gym staff are saying that. One explanation could be that the gym (or at least the person OP spoke to) regards men who identify as women as not being male. This happened in the awful hospital ward rape example AlisonDonut refers to at 21:19 yesterday and it was that I was thinking of when I posted.

Obviously there are several other possible explanations.

SAR obviously they are obliged to provide YOUR personal information but depending on the location of the cameras and his proximity to you he may have been captured... the next excuse to be ready for is that they "can't provide this as to do so would breach the other person's personal information". They d DO have an obligation they can pixilate his face out. Another excuse may that they don't have the technology/ too expensive, of so tell them you will report them to the information commissioners office. The CCTV may not then be helpful in an identification, but will prove your point if he was in the frame there was someone there. If the towel was wrapped around the waist would suggest it was a male rather than a female.
I would keep quiet not raise a complain or put in social media. They only have to hold footage for 28 days so push the police to seize it ASAP. If the police are dragging their feet get your MP involved. Also you should receive the support of an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor. Who can guide you through the process. The police should refer you automatically to this service.

And at DL the cameras are outside the changing rooms, fixed on the doors clocking entrance and exit.

a DSAR won’t cover the perpetrator as he’s not making the DSAR, the victim is, and she’s not going to be in shot.

police report today please OP. I’m sorry this happened to you and as a fellow DL member you’re not only helping yourself but all the other female club members. Sorry this happened to you

I am so not surprised. They will try and sweep anything under the carpet, deny stuff, lie and gaslight members.

Police and also tell head office you’re reporting to police.

was it a south London DL? I reported a group of young men (say 20s?) In family changing area just last night.

Im feeling increasingly unsafe in the spa area and wish they had women’s only hours, like at council swimming pools. How to police that would be a nightmare I’d imagine…

100% go to the police. If it’s David Lloyd they’ll know who was in the building from membership card swipes so there’s half the investigation done already!

It's very scary particularly when you're on your own and unable to get away easily like the OP.

The gym should definitely take this very seriously but I'm betting they don't want bad publicity so are playing it down.

There's someone in my gym that plays with himself in the steam room. It's never happened to me but I know several people who've reported it. My gym has also played it down because he hasn't been seen doing it on camera apparently. Well obviously because there aren't any CCTV cameras in the steam room! I think they also don't want the hassle/bad publicity.

They do it because they like to intimidate and scare women. That's why it's a gateway to rape and sexual assault. It makes them feel powerful. It's also why we have to report it to the police because it goes on their record if there are any other incidents further down the line women are more likely to be believed.

Incidentally when it happened to me it was late at night and he rushed past me getting off the train so he could flash at me when I came round the corner. It was terrifying and I screamed my head off. The only good part was the memory of him scuttling off with his trousers round his ankles calling me a fucking bitch. But seriously it was a scary moment and I hope my reaction put him off doing it to someone else.

Absolutely report it to the police. They'll do their own investigations if need be.

Unfortunately David Lloyd have a policy that men who identify as women and prefer to use the women’s facilities can do so, so I’d be very suspicious of their claim that they can’t see a “man” entering.

i started a thread on it recently - if you do a search you can see their incoherent and dangerous policy

I’m a lawyer and I work in a data privacy team and yes that is what happens lol! 😂

Unfortunately David Lloyd have a policy that men who identify as women and prefer to use the women’s facilities can do so, so I’d be very suspicious of their claim that they can’t see a “man” entering.

i started a thread on it recently - if you do a search you can see their incoherent and dangerous policy

@ColdSpirit because I'm a lawyer with experience in this area and no that's not what would happen 😂

As a fellow DL member I would email the Chief Executive.

[email protected]

Hopefully your gym will take it seriously then.

Why does it matter ? He entered the women’s’ changing room and flashed a naked woman alone in the room.

It matters because the gym say a male didn't enter.

Who are they calling male matters because a male did enter. If they have footage of a person entering the changing room who they don't think is male on whatever grounds - then they do have CCTV.

No it wouldn’t.

if she made a dsar the request would go to the privacy team and / or a lawyer.

the person dealing with it WOULD HAVE to look at all the CCTV from the night in question properly. As a legal professional, if you watched CCTV which showed someone being flashed, you would be obliged to do something about it.

The OP could also ask for how the complaint has been dealt with in her DSAR.

Plus, a DSAR is expensive and time consuming to deal with, meaning her complaint is likely to get far more attention and therefore be dealt with better.

Why oh why do people post about things they clearly don’t have the first clue about. Truly baffling.

Why does it matter ? He entered the women’s’ changing room and flashed a naked woman alone in the room.

OP isn't asking for footage of herself but of someone else, so submitting a DSAR would be totally pointless.

This is worrying and at the least they need to put new cameras which are at a different angle in. I was reading about Flip Out in the papers yesterday- 11 people broke their backs and it was minimised.

That man has got away with flashing. Do you think he is going to stop now or is he going to escalate? How many other women are going to have to go through this before anything is done. It is important to have a procedure and manage it. To take things seriously because of the danger of reputational damage, not to mention the victims.

If this continues, women will leave the gym in droves, it will get a terrible reputation not to mention lawsuits.

They need to take robust action now, reassure you and keep you informed.

Opinions are one thing, using those opinions to then go a kick someone’s teeth in are quite another. One is not illegal, the other is an illegal violent assault.

If you can’t see how the two are different then you are as bad (stupid) as the person in question.

If all of us thought the way that you both do, then we’d be living in complete bedlam, with every person meting out personal justice however they please. In fact, we did live that way once, a very long time ago. Then someone had the good idea of bringing in some mutually agreed law and order.

Don’t be so wilfully ignorant.

Address to send a subject access request : [email protected] found in their privacy policy here https://www.davidlloyd.co.uk/policy/privacy-policy

You don't know it "got the job done" and once they got to the man they could have called the police and held him in "citizens arrest" till police arrived to properly arrest him, and as PP said offence put on record. This would have been miles more helpful.

Also wondering if her 1 year old witnessed the boyfriend's violent attack, that would have been more traumatizing than the flashing itself.

Agreed - a subject access request will get the info in front of David Lloyd’s legal team who should be able to take it from there.

(It’s also very time consuming and expensive to deal with these requests so very useful if you want to kick up a fuss!!)

I think you should:

• go to the police and quickly before they erase CCTV footage
• make a complaint to the gym management for how this has been handled so far. If it is a chain also complain the gym head office.

The police can access the CCTV.

Also I would think that this guy might have done this before and/or might be going around gyms/swimming pools in the area to play out his sick fetish and will do it again and even escalate if not caught.

The police might already have similar reports from other places.

You're right, but putting the request in will mean someone in a central function will view the CCTV and pull it from the system . That takes it out of the hands of the local staff members and preserves the footage which is important as the police may move so slow the footage is deleted before they even ask for it.