It is an High Street institution which has long prided itself on exceptional customer service.

But for Julie Edwards, the encounter with staff at her local Marks & Spencer store was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Mrs Edwards told how she was left feeling ‘humiliated and embarrassed’ after she felt forced to take off her bra at the customer services desk - as other customers queued behind her - in order to obtain a refund for an identical faulty product which came from the same twin-pack.

Julie Edwards, 42 (pictured with a twin-pack of bras similar to the one she returned) was 'humiliated' after she felt forced to remove her bra in front of a queue of shoppers at her local Marks and Spencer store

The 42-year-old, who has a 42E bust said that after eventually obtaining the refund and walking away from the till, she then heard the shop assistant joking about the incident at the store in the Merry Hill shopping centre, near Dudley, with the next customer.

Yesterday Mrs Edwards said: ‘It wasn’t a nice experience at all. M&S trade on their strong customer service but I was afforded no dignity at all.

‘The shop assistant read me the riot act and told me that I had to return both bras.

‘I used to buy all my bras from the store because they are the only High Street brand which adequately cater for big-busted women. Now I’m too embarrassed to go in the shop. I’ll have to send my husband in for me next time.

Julie Edwards felt forced to remove her bra at this store in Merry Hill shopping centre, near Dudley

Mrs Edwards, who runs a bouncy castle hire firm with husband Mike, 43, had bought the lingerie twin-pack from the store a fortnight earlier.

But the strap on one of the bras snapped and she took it back with the original packaging - but was wearing the second bra which was not faulty.

At the time, she was with her 22-month-old son, Jaxon, and around seven shoppers were in the queue behind her at the customer service desk, which is close to the collection point in a separate part of the store.

The former prison officer added: ‘The assistant made it clear that was the only way I could return the faulty bra was to return the other one too.

Mrs Edwards, who runs a bouncy castle hire firm with husband Mike, 43, had bought the lingerie twin-pack from the store a fortnight earlier

‘When I told her I was wearing that one she made no reply, so I started to take it off under my top. I thought she would stop me but she didn’t.

'I managed to remove it discreetly without anybody else seeing anything but I must have been stood there bra-less for about five minutes before they realised they didn’t have a replacement twin-pack in stock to give me.’

The assistant then offered mother-of-one Mrs Edwards an £18 refund, which she accepted.

But the shopper was so upset at what had happened she then went off to inform an assistant manager.

The manager apologised and found a replacement bra from store stock for her to change into in the changing rooms.

Mrs Edwards felt so strongly about how she was treated that she also posted a message on the retailer’s Facebook page when she arrived home to Kingswinford, West Midlands.

In the angry message, Mrs Edwards told the company she felt ‘degraded and humiliated’ at having to remove her bra in the store in order to return a faulty product.

M&S acknowledged in a reply that the incident was ‘concerning and something that needs addressing’ and asked Mrs Edwards to supply her contact details.

She has now been given a £50 voucher as a ‘goodwill gesture’.

Last month, M&S posted its first rise in annual profits in four years, up 6.1 per cent to £661million.

The figures were boosted by a lingerie collection by actress and model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, which sold 1.5million items last year.

An M&S spokesman acknowledged the incident had taken place but said: ‘At no point was the immediate return of the second bra requested.’

He added: ‘However, our store team apologised to Mrs Edwards for her experience and acted quickly to resolve the situation.

'The store manager followed up with a call to personally apologise and invited the customer to store. This invitation was declined .’