A mum was left shocked after she had the police called on her for challenging someone who was "unmistakably male" in a female changing room.
Miranda Newsom was at her local council-run leisure centre in Southwark, London where she claims to have seen a trans woman in the changing room, who she then approached.
However, a confrontation ensued between the two which led to police being called to The Castle Centre in Elephant and Castle.
As a result, Ms Newsom’s gym membership was suspended for a year, not only from her local gym, but all eight council-run leisure centres in her area.
The 60-year-old marketing executive told The Telegraph: "I saw him straight away, a man, around 5ft10in tall, with long hair, wearing a halter top and loose-fitting trousers, standing at the basin washing his hands.
"As I approached, I said calmly, 'I’m sure you’re probably a perfectly decent person, but this is a female changing room, and males can’t be in here.'
"He turned on me immediately, saying, 'I’m a woman on my birth certificate and passport!'. But he was unmistakably male."
After this confrontation, she said they "started filming me and asking if other women in the changing room had a problem with him being there."
The incident took place at the Castle Centre in south London
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Things soon escalated after Ms Newsom was accused of "raising her fists" with police officers being called to the scene.
She said: "My hand was closed as I was holding my earbuds, but I was in no way 'making a fist' or threatening to punch him. I’m a 5ft5in woman, and he was so much taller than me. It was a ridiculous thing to say.
"We both walked to reception, where he objected to my calling him a man and then called me a 'cis woman' [someone who was born female and identifies as a woman]. I took exception to that as I’m simply a 'woman'. He then called me a man, but this simply doesn’t bother me.
"[I did] become agitated at the time, particularly when this man started filming me. No doubt my cortisol was already spiking from seeing a grown adult man in the female changing room while at least one woman was standing there in just a towel."
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Southwark council in London is has revoked Ms Newsom’s gym membership
| GOOGLEHowever, when officers arrived at the scene, they spoke to the trans woman while Ms Newsom was left speaking to the gym's manger, who said the centre tries to be “inclusive and welcoming to all".
She continued: "The next part of our conversation was jaw-dropping.
"She said that when it comes to trans people, they do a 'visual assessment' to make sure they look 'enough' like the sex they aspire to be.
"It is utterly ridiculous. I asked if a man with long hair and a pink top would be allowed in, but a man with short hair wearing a t-shirt and baggy track suit bottoms wouldn’t? How can that form a policy?"
While officers told her there would not be any criminal action, she was invited to a meeting with Southwark’s head of leisure, who told her she would be banned for a year for behaviour that was "not appropriate."
She said: "After the meeting, I was stunned.
"I felt that the message to me was all too clear, that girls and women need to be quiet, smile politely and not say a word when men who identify as women come into your female-only space.
"The council also criticised me for mentioning surgeries [which was first brought up by another customer], when I stated that a man remains 100 per cent male, no matter if he has surgery or not."
A spokesman from Southwark Council told The Telegraph: "To help ensure the best environment for everyone in our leisure centres, all leisure members are expected to follow the terms and conditions of their membership at all times.
"If terms and conditions are not met, we may suspend membership temporarily or permanently.
"We don’t comment on individual cases."