Not allowing heavily pregnant woman to use a loo

Absolutely this.

And I'm sure those saying 'but it's a rule not to...' will know about all the reasons not to show a regular customer the way to the staff loo.... But have a little think about why it would have been the right call.

Its not the staff's fault, you really can't expect people in service positions to bend the rule for you. They can't. They could be fired. There are usually legal and insurance reasons. My friend was telling me about the stress she had on a summer job at an amusement park, on a children's ride. Every single day there would be parents expecting her to bend the rules for some reason specific to their child who was slightly over the height limit, and either incredibly disappointed or outright enraged that she could "be a bit flexible" or "show some understanding" in that particular case. Its because the rides are insured and safety certified for riders up to a certain height only. 1) Your child's safety would not be guaranteed 2) It's literally illegal and absolutely a sackable offence.

You'd hope not, but having worked retail as a student, I can tell you that a lot of managers are petty tyrants who would absolutely fire staff for this kind of thing! That's why I'll never blame the staff for saying no.

It does seem particularly harsh in this case, but you just don't know what management are like or how worried the employee might have been about her job!

It wasn’t on the ground floor, and it’s a trek to get up there, so the lady wasn’t just passing by the store and seeing a toilet inside on the ground floor and taking advantage. If she was on the street there would be closer toilets elsewhere. They were right near the toilets so the staff member could have opened the door for her. I was with my DM and she was also shocked by it; the staff member was not even apologetic. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t have lost her job over showing compassion for a lady clearly in need.

Nothing but sympathy from me OP. My very elderly late gran was on diuretics for her heart and more than once we had to ask for 'help' as you did. I am so sorry about what happened to you.

Do that at the place I work and the op would have likely ended up injured. The toilets are at the far end of the warehouse and it's chaos. We have to know what we are doing and be alert at all times, 9am on a morning while stock is still sat on pallets is crazy. I'm not even sure a heavily pregnant woman would fit through the gaps. I know I can't always

The lack of decent facilities for the public in some places drives me mad 😠.
I am older and a mum of 3 adult daughters
One has disabilities and sometimes doesn’t recognise the need to go till absolutely the last minute ( interoception) and we try to manage this as best we can .
Another daughter so needs to be able to get her little one to a loo quickly now and other daughter has IBD .
The of times I’ve raced into a cafe and ordered a takeaway drink just to use their loo is ridiculous.
The nearest Tesco ( medium size )closed its public loos because of vandalism 😩
Where we live is a very small town with no public loos but we have gone into a particular community cafe / store to use their loos .

So you think that senior management should be forcing staff to accompany customers to the staff toilets on request? That would be an incredibly stupid policy. What happens when that 'customer' pulls a knife and demands access to the safe? Or a male staff member is accused of sexual assault? Maybe you haven't read all the replies (I know there are a lot) but others have pointed out that not only is there a health and safety risk to you, but there is a security risk to staff. I'm sorry you were caught short, but it is absolutely not OK to put other people at risk because you are upset about that.

It's not the store's fault but silly to tell the OP to "plan better" in this situation.

No they don't have special insurance. If anything the drugs in the dispensary and back mean they have to be more careful not less careful than other shops to supervise people who are not in the main shop area.

Well, for what it's worth I would have let you use the staff toilet regardless of any rules.

It's not the staff's fault, but awful for you OP, hope you're OK.

So you wouldn't have had an issue with it if it had been a different company? Have you contacted the CEO yet?

https://www.co-operative.coop/about-us/shirine-khoury-haq

When I worked retail, I wasn't not allowed to "bend the rules", ever. I would have lost my job if found out. Sorry, but that's not a chance I was going to take, nor is it something I would expect from a shop staff as a customer.

It's unfortunate for you but they just don't allow it these days,

As you may have guessed I was talking more generally about allowing consumerism to thrive unfettered to the extent that pregnant women, elderly people,l and those with disabilities are discriminated against, and to the extent that it shapes our very infrastructure and town planning and the way society is structured. We have allowed this to happen!

Absolutely. I have let people carrying those cards use the toilet and small children/pregnant women too. They are accompanied. It has nothing to do with insurance.

I'm sorry, that must of been horrible for you. Maybe use a tena for the last part of your pregnancy.

I think you need a policeman's hat not blaming the Coop. 😉

It sounds like you've just been lucky and come across employees who are willing or able to bend the rules.

seriously, they couldnt let a heavily pregnant and desperate woman use the loo? the member of staff could have escorted her, nothing bad would happen. bending the rules every so often with discretion is not going to cause big issues. there is a lack of humanity in the staff's response

I'm not saying those things don't exist, I'm saying OP hasn't mentioned a disability therefore most people would walk home and use the loo rather then go and buy milk and have an accident. I'm on water tablets and been pregnant and have never managed to have an accident and if I did, I wouldn't be blaming the Coop.

Twice actually. We see the same threads on here like pregnancy is a disability. Those saying they should be allowed to park in disabled spots or use the spaces on public transport, it's odd.

The fact you didn't make it out of coop means you wouldn't of made it to the staff toilet anyway and probably pissed in the staff room, warehouse or on the stairs. The staff toilets would of been a lot further then the entrance/exit

I have bowel and bladder incontinence.
I have a card l carry that says " just can't wait".
I've never ever been refused to use any stores toilets if they don't have a public one .
It's nothing to do with insurance.. because they accompy you and wait for you.
Might be too late now..but perhaps apply for a card.

https://www.bladderandbowel.org/help-information/just-cant-wait-card/

I agree, we do need to find more solutions to the public toilet situation, as I've said. I just don't think it's fair to be annoyed at shop staff because those solutions have not been put into place yet.