She said she faced discrimination daily and last week was called 'he-she'

A furious transgender woman has criticised a high street shopping giant after staff refused to let her use their female changing rooms.

Joni Bendall stormed out of the Primark store in Ipswich, Suffolk, after her persistent pleas to be allowed to use the fitting rooms of her choice fell on deaf ears.

The 26-year-old said it was the latest in a string of discriminatory incidents she had faced - including suffering abuse on the street by repeatedly being called a 'he-she'.

Angry: Transgender woman Joni Bendall, 26, stormed out of the Primark store in Ipswich, Suffolk, after staff refused to let her use their female changing rooms

Her close friend, Rosetta Baker, has now sent a stinging letter to the Primark's chief executive officer, Paul Marchant, over the incident.

She told the CEO that Primark's brand, marketed at a 'young, culturally diverse demographic', was sold as 'narrow-minded, intolerant and prejudiced' at the Ipswich store.

Miss Bendall, who was born a man but now identifies as a woman, was shopping in Primark on April 30 when she took two items of clothing to the female changing room 'like any other woman would'.

But the Ipswich woman was told by the sales assistant that the men's changing rooms were upstairs.

Miss Bendall said: 'I paused to take a breath and said: "I'm not a man".

Sorry: Miss Bendall said she reported the incident to the manager of Ipswich's Primark store (pictured), who was apologetic and advised her that the female facilities were downstairs. But Miss Bendall left the store

'And the assistant turned around and kept folding clothes.'

Six months ago she said she was made to use the disabled changing rooms in the same store.

'I was quite early in my transition then and I was nervous, but now I am more confident I will fight it,' Miss Bendall said.

'This time I turned to the assistant and I said, "I know this is awkward for you but I would like to use the changing rooms like any other woman", and they just ignored me.'

Suffering abuse: Last week Miss Bendall said one person shouted 'he-she' at her for five minutes

Miss Bendall said she reported the incident to the store manager, who was apologetic and advised her that the female facilities were downstairs.

'I ended up leaving the shop. It made me feel dysphoric and it made me very aware of being the way I am, which is not very pleasant sometimes,' she added.

'Shopping for clothes is a difficult thing anyway.

'It really messes with my head and all you need is for one person to confirm that all the bad things that you think about yourself are true.'

A Primark spokesman said it was its policy to allow all transgender customers to use the fitting rooms of their choice in its stores.

He said: 'Primark takes all customer complaints seriously and expects all its staff to provide considerate and respectful assistance to customers shopping and trying clothes on in store.'

Miss Bendall, who runs a trans-network at Suffolk's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) hub in Ipswich, said she faced discrimination on a daily basis.

She said last week she was abused five times during a 30-minute walk, with one person shouting 'he-she' at her for five minutes straight.

'We are viewed as being weird or different or overly-sexualised and it's just not like that.

'We are just ordinary boring people who want to shop like anyone else does,' insisted Miss Bendall.