A report in the Mirror highlights that workplace discrimination issues can involve incidents with customers and not just those between employees. Two Halfords’ staff left a message for a customer, with an African surname, on his voicemail, to confirm his booking for a free car check – but forgot to hang up. One says she has a problem with “Africans”. Her male colleague responds: “Most of the people who book this stuff in are those sorts of people.” The woman says: “My boyfriend, he hates them African people. They are the worst when it comes to money.” There was also a comment that he was “the sort of person who would drive to Aldi for a f*****g bog roll”. Halfords confirmed they have a zero-tolerance policy towards racist behaviour and “one colleague was dismissed and the other resigned prior to being dismissed.”

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