British woman ‘asked if she could even speak English’ in London cosmetics store

She also said she was repeatedly misgendered and had her debit card taken from her during the incident.

A British woman has said she was racially profiled, misgendered and asked if she could ‘even speak English’ while shopping in a London cosmetics store.

MonBelle, 33, claims she was closely tailed by a shop assistant the moment she entered East End Cosmetics to buy hair moisturiser on August 6.

The business owner, who has lived in Dubai for over 10 years, then attempted to purchase her items with a United Arab Emirates debit card.

But as she tried to pay, she said the cashier became increasingly aerated because the card was rejected and denied it had worked when it finally went through.

MonBelle claims the woman then demanded to see her ID, which was back at her hotel, before asking her where she was from.

She told Metro.co.uk: ‘I’ve travelled all over the world with my card and I have never ever had a problem.

‘My bank is connected to my phone and I immediately got a text that showed £12 had gone to their shop. I tried to show the woman but she wouldn’t believe me.

‘She took my card off me and kept asking whose it was, asking me if it was stolen and telling a male worker to block the door because she was calling the police. It was ridiculous.

‘That’s when she turned to me and was like: “Do you even understand English? Where are you from?”.

‘I’m thinking: “Woah. Okay. This is a different vibe, this is not right”. She’s telling me I’m foreign, that I shouldn’t even be here, all while using male pronouns.

‘It’s weird because she was Asian herself, which is completely not an issue, but for her to tell me I don’t understand English, in broken English, was bizarre.

‘I eventually snatched my card out of her hand and left the store. To be honest, I felt a bit traumatised by the whole thing.

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‘I’ve never had this before, anywhere, and I least of all expected it from the place where I am from.’

MonBelle, who was born in Bradford, was excited to be back in the UK and visiting friends and family who live around London.

But the CEO, who owns Dubai events and entertainment company Those Guys, said the ‘offensive’ nature of the incident in store reduced her to tears.

A member of staff also prevented her from taking the items she’d bought, meaning she left the shop empty handed.

MonBelle said: ‘When you’re black and someone is threatening to call the police, even if you know it’s such an insignificant thing… [You might think], “Are you joking? Sure, let them come. I’ll talk to them.”

‘But there’s still a part of you thinking: “What if the police come and I have to go through the same battle with them. What if the wrong police officer comes and it’s another whole story”.

‘It made me feel a bit worthless, like degraded. Nobody, regardless of where they’re from or what their orientation is, no one should feel like that.

‘Disappointing is not even if the word. It’s disgusting behaviour.’

When approached for comment, Shabir Bhanji, owner of East End Cosmetics, denied MonBelle’s transaction had gone through – but said she could easily call her bank for the money if this was not the case.

He told Metro.co.uk the cashier had been following till instructions to withhold the card and claimed MonBelle had become ‘offensive and aggressive’ as a result.

Mr Bhanji said: ‘There are so many scams going on, there so many cards that are stolen and being used in the city.

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‘We’re doing a job that is not our job. It would have been easier to just give the card back, even if the till tells you to keep it.’

He continued: ‘We treat all the customers very fairly, although a lot of my staff get a lot of abuse. Retail is very tough. I was told this customer wasn’t pleasant at all.

‘I have rules in place I make my staff follow. Don’t retaliate and don’t become aggressive back. If you feel threatened, call the police.

‘Why would my staff, knowing how strict I am on customer service, be rude to a customer?’

Mr Bhanji said he would not apologise to MonBelle and also denied accusations that she had been racially profiled while in the shop.

He said: ‘When somebody says to me you’re racist, I say listen, I’m from Africa.

‘Racism is not within my company philosophy. We are all migrants ourselves. I employ people in the company of all ethnicities.’