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Hobbycraft has apologised to a customer who claimed she was “thrown out” of a Scots store for objecting to a “No Terfs” badge worn by a staff member. The arts and crafts retail giant came under fire after the woman posted a formal complaint on social media about her experience at a Dundee branch on Sunday, sparking a huge online debate. The regular customer, posting as ‘Bex’ and ‘sewingwithsteel’, took to X to claim she had challenged a checkout assistant who was wearing an “abusive and discriminatory” badge reading “no terfs no tories” - referring to the term which stands for ‘transgender-exclusionary radical feminist’. ‘Bex’ said she and her husband were “ejected” by a manager on the grounds of their “gender critical beliefs”. The move was slammed by women’s rights campaigners, including For Women Scotland, who described it as “unlawful discrimination”. Hobbycraft told the Record it was “sorry” the customer had been asked to leave and had launched an “immediate internal investigation”. The complainer claimed she was being served by a female member of staff wearing the pink love heart badge when she quizzed her on the meaning. She said she then proceeded to tell the woman behind the counter that “being a ‘terf’ is a characteristic legally protected by the Equality act” and that the word had been defined in law as a “derogatory and abuse term used to refer to people holding this legally protected belief”. She said: “At this point, upon suspecting I may have been one of the ‘terfs’ her badge appeared to bar from the store, she immediately become hostile and reproachful.” The post added: “We very much felt like she was attempting to make a spectacle of us and publicly humiliate us for objecting to the discriminatory badge that she was wearing.” The customer claimed that a manager who attended the checkout then told her and her partner they “need to go and read a biology textbook” before asking them to leave the store. The complaint letter added: “I visited the shop today as an average member of the public and feel that I should be able to do so without being made to feel unwelcome and subjected on the grounds of a legally protected characteristic.” “If the behaviour my partner and I were subjected to is not in accordance with Hobbycraft’s customer service and discrimination policies, we would welcome an explanation of the steps which you will take to remedy this situation to ensure that other customers are not subject to such discrimination when visiting your stores”. The post had attracted more than 100,000 views on X yesterday, with hundreds of comments . For Women Scotland responded to the post, writing: “Tut tut, @Hobbycraft, this is unlawful discrimination. “Your staff have no business refusing customers because of their political views and your managers need to leave their personal issues at home. Better get the lawyers on this one or apologise!” A Hobbycraft spokesman said: “We are aware of the incident and are taking the matter seriously. “We’re sorry that the customer was asked to leave the store and have launched an immediate internal investigation. “We will remain in contact with the customer throughout this process.” The Record approached the customer in question for further comment.
