A man was booted out and barred from his gym after a row erupted over his UGG boots – with staff claiming they were a safety hazard.
Stephen Metcalf, of Faringdon, Oxfordshire, had been attending The Gym Group in Swindon since January – often opting to wear his calf-high, green UGGs to combat cold feet.
But weeks later, as he visited the gym to lift weights, Mr Metcalf was met by a member of staff who told him his footwear was not appropriate workout attire.
In footage obtained exclusively by , the transition consultant entered an explosive row with the staff member as he argued the only banned shoe on the gym’s sign was flip flops.
Mr Metcalf was threatened with police and later told via email that his conduct had been ‘aggressive, abusive, intimidating, antisocial, [and] threatening’ – resulting in the termination of his contract.
In the video, the gym-goer said to the employee: ‘They are not flip flops. Where does it say [on the sign] that it’s not appropriate? Where is the description of that?
‘If there’s no description, you can’t tell me that they’re not appropriate. Flip flops are an open-toe shoe, yes? Ok, so are they [the UGGs] an open-toe shoe?’
The member of staff replied: ‘We have been told by management and our head office that if they are not in trainers, we have to refuse. I’m sorry. I’m only doing my job.’
Mr Metcalf responded: ‘It doesn’t say trainers there. I’m saying no, that’s not fair. What if I refuse to leave?’
The member of staff said: ‘Then I will have to call management and then the police.’
The gym-goer replied: ‘Call management then please, call the management now, because that’s bonkers.’
Following the exchange, Mr Metcalf discovered his contract had been terminated by the company for his ‘abusive’ tone.
He believes it was a ‘stupid’ decision and cannot see the problem with wearing UGG boots to work out.
Mr Metcalf did not use any machinery, treadmills or bicycles, and stuck mainly to floor exercises such as sit ups, pull ups and press ups.
He said: ‘I wear UGG boots all the time to keep my feet warm. I’d been going to the gym for a while using UGG boots because I get really cold feet.
‘After a month or so, an employee came up to me and said that I was wearing inappropriate footwear and that I couldn’t train.
‘When I challenged him on the rules, saying that there were other people who had taken their shoes off to do exercise, he insisted that it breached their terms and conditions and that I would have to leave.
‘I asked him what would happen if I refused to leave and he said he’d have to call the manager and then the police – over a pair of UGG boots.
‘I told him that was a stupid and offensive thing to say.’
He added: ‘It’s inappropriate and unfair to tell me once I’ve turned up at the gym that I can’t work out, rather than tell me before.’
The rules on the wall at the gym in Swindon state that inappropriate attire includes a ball-gown and flip-flops, but Mr Metcalf argued that his footwear was a closed shoe.
Following the exchange, he researched the Gym Group’s terms and conditions online. He found that it said that boots were not appropriate.
However, he said those boots are presumably wellington boots, work boots or football boots – not UGGs.
He said: ‘When I was in Spain on holiday, I received another email saying that because I had breached their rules several times and used threatening behaviour towards staff that I was banned from the gym.
‘So I asked for the direct debit payment back that they had just taken and they said no, even though I paid for a month at the gym the day after they banned me.
‘If you’re going to ban somebody, at least give them the chance to get their money back.
‘People who I’ve known for six years from the gym said it was ridiculous. If I came in with boxing boots, or high top trainers is that ok? The rules are very ambiguous.
‘If you’re not using machinery or a treadmill or a bicycle, then what’s the issue? They said that I was a danger to myself, and I said that it was my own personal danger and that I wasn’t breaching any rules.
‘They came back arguing that they couldn’t risk being prosecuted for liability, to which I replied saying that they were exempt from the liability which it states clearly in their rules.’
Mr Metcalf has now joined a more expensive, local gym in Faringdon where he lives.
A spokesperson for Gym Group said: ‘Our member rules help us to create safe, inclusive, and welcoming gym spaces, and include the behaviours we expect of our members, as well as the clothing and footwear that are not safe or practical to exercise in.
‘We are clear that breaches of the rules may result in a membership cancellation.’