Woman claims she was wrongly accused of pooing on the floor at a gym after a manager blamed her for a bathroom ‘mess’
- Wellington woman claims Les Mills gym wrongly accused her of pooing on floor
- She agreed with the gym to only use the disabled toilets due to her disease
- She denies the incident and said staff were blaming it on her Crohn’s disease
- Two of her friends have also left the gym and sent complaints to managers
A woman who suffers from Crohn’s disease has claimed an upmarket gym kicked her out after accusing her of defecating on the bathroom floor.
The gym-user, who wished to remain anonymous, was a member at the Les Mills studio in Wellington, New Zealand before a cleaner found feces on the floor of the disabled toilets.
She claimed she had ongoing issues with the gym’s staff which led to an agreement for her to only use the disabled toilets and clean up after each visit.
The woman denies she was responsible for the incident and says the staff at the gym were using her disease as a ‘scapegoat’.
A gym goer suffering from Crohn’s disease claims she was wrongly accused by staff who said she had defecated on the floor (file image)
‘The thing with my condition is, yes, it’s messy, but if it was me to blame there would be blood and not poo in the middle of the floor,’ she told Stuff.
She said staff claimed they’d received complaints about her behaviour while using the bathrooms.
‘One complaint was that I made ‘horrific noises’, there’s nothing I can do about that. It’s to do with my condition,’ she said.
‘People with Crohn’s disease go through so much. I feel like Les Mills went out of their way to make things harder for me.’
Staff said there were ‘health and safety’ issues but the woman said she was distraught after having her membership withdrawn.
She said another issue was that because she was confined to using the disabled toilets, they wasn’t often a free cubicle, noting those suffering from Crohn’s need to access a toilet immediately.
This prompted her to use other toilets where she was forced to clean up other members’ mess – or public toilets on the street.
In October, Les Mills staff said the woman hadn’t carried out all the agreements and denied they were related to her condition.
The woman said she couldn’t have been responsible for the mess on the floor as she was unable to access the toilets on the day it happened.
The woman had her membership from the Les Mills gym in Wellington (pictured) removed but said she was not responsible for the incident
Her two friends, Katy Young and Tanya Palmer, who were also Les Mills members have now boycotted the gym.
Ms Palmer said her friend was bullied by gym staff and said she was ‘distraught’ when her membership was cancelled.
‘This poor woman ended up so tortured by this that she didn’t know what to do,’ she told the New Zealand Herald.
The pair sent several complaints to the national office of Les Mills, but were told by a lawyer the matter would not be discussed.
‘We said that there was unfair, bullying and victimisation against this person and we’re bringing it to your attention,’ Ms Palmer said.
‘At no stage did they ever produce any actual evidence.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Les Mills’ Wellington office for comment.