A UK branch of Primark is being taken to task on social media after staff were accused of 'rewarding' a racist customer, who allegedly told a Muslim shop assistant: "I don't want to be served by black people."
Facebook user Don Na Marie wrote a long post on the social media site, detailing an event to which she was a witness.
She was present at the Primark outlet in the Westfield Stratford City shopping centre in East London when a customer allegedly refused to be served by the female Muslim employee.
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"The manager who was white came over and told the customer, 'You didn't have to say it like that,' and took her clothes items and served her personally," she wrote.
"Many of the customers queuing were also black and were shocked the customer was given express service after racially abusing the staff member."
Don Na Marie claimed that all of the other cashiers on duty were black and that she has now complained directly to Primark and to their CEO over Twitter.
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Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, an organisation of which Ms Marie is a member, tweeted its support, posting: "A race hate crime took place and was endorsed by the manager, disregarding black and Muslim staff and customers and with no regard for race law or policies."
The group said it would support Ms Marie in her campaign and asked its followers to 'support the black staff at this store'.
In a statement, Primark responded: "'We have investigated this allegation, which included speaking to all employees involved, and found no evidence of any racist comments made in our Westfield Stratford store.
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"The customer was moved from the exchange/refund queue to a sales till in order to pay for her goods. Primark does not tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind."
Twitter users were quick to complain to Primark directly:
Primark released the following follow-up statement: "Primark takes any allegation of this kind very seriously.
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"As soon as we became aware of this allegation, we immediately carried out a thorough investigation. The investigation team spoke at length to all the employees who were in that part of the store at the time and we have also reviewed all relevant CCTV coverage.
"Our investigation concluded that none of our employees acted with knowledge of any alleged racist comments made by the customer in question. The customer was moved from the exchange/refund area of the store to a sales till in order to pay for her goods.
"The customer was not moved as a result of her alleged racist comments, because our employees were unaware of them. We would like to reiterate that Primark does not tolerate or condone racism or discrimination of any kind."
Topics: Racism, UK News, Primark