This morning I was racially profiled by a member of your staff, Elizbieta Mahmud, in front of my 13 year old daughter and a large crowd of other shoppers. I have shopped at Marks and Spencer for around 30 years and I am a well dressed black woman from an academic background. I inform you of this as I do not want my being accused of shop lifting in your store to be explained under any other heading than racial profiling. At 9:57 I was walking out of your store with my shopping and daughter when Ms Mahmud chased after me and grabbed my purchased Orange Mango Press juice out of my bag. She said “you haven’t paid for that,” in an angry voice. I said “yes I have” and took the juice out of her hand. She did not ask for a receipt but I walked with her back to the till and she called a manager who confirmed the purchase. It was clear that this was not the outcome that she intended as she walked away without recognising her mistake. I then asked Ms Mahmud to come and see the receipt, to which she rudely refused. She did not apologies or recognise her mistake and I left the store feeling humiliated and angry. After a few minutes to collect my thoughts, I returned and asked the security guard if I could see the manager, I told the manager and his colleague that I had been racially profiled and asked to be given the staff members name. He was very apologetic but this does not leave me feeling any less aggrieved. I feel that Ms Mahmud should be trained in how to deal with customers and also how to spot a shoplifter from a regular customer. I am sure that this experience will stay in the mind of my daughter and myself for a long time and regret that it happened in a shop that we visit consistently throughout the week. Whilst I understand that diversity training cannot fully remove instances of racial profiling, I do think that for this member of staff it would be beneficial and hope that Marks and Spencer will take action to provide this for Ms Mahmud.