"I believe this is because of my autism."

Furious Mr Aggarwal complained, but when Virgin Active refused to take any action against the worker he took them to court.

The administrator borrowed books from the library, scoured online articles on discrimination, and consulted previous cases to prepare for his court room battle.

Representing himself against Virgin Active's lawyer, he successfully argued he had been the victim of disability harassment.

Virgin Active was ordered to pay him costs and compensation, apologise and to look into training staff on equality.

Mr Aggarwal, from Southall, London, said: "He called me stupid twice. Calling someone with a mental disability 'stupid' is similar to mocking a guy in a wheelchair.

"If I was that stupid I wouldn't have been able to successfully pursue the claim.

"It was two years coming and it was hard work.

"I'm not a legal professional and I had to do a huge amount of paperwork.

"I had to live in the library, picking up law from the books, and getting templates for submitting paperwork from the internet.

"It was worth it though.

"It wasn't about the money, it was about the principle."

Mr Aggarwal said he was diagnosed with autism as an adult and has always been "socially awkward" and "more into numbers", and panics during confrontations.