World War Two Royal Navy veteran Leslie Downard, 80, his wife Phyllis, 76, and former TA soldier Joan Anderson, 78, were shaken when confronted by the guards.

They claimed, falsely, the three only had the right to collect in the Eden Centre, in High Wycombe, Bucks, for four days and not the 14 they intended.

Nick Warren, marketing manager for the centre, said the ban was imposed because the guards did not think the sellers had charity licences to operate for two weeks.
He said: "It was a complete misunderstanding. I can only apologise."

The move is in response to one of their colleagues undergoing treatment to change from a 42-year-old married man into a woman called Lauren.

Senior officers say it constitutes "political correctness gone mad" to have staff on anti-discrimination training when they could be out on the beat.

Some 510 staff , including 344 police officers, working for Humberside Police in North East Lincolnshire received a letter from the chief superintendent saying they had to attend the half-day training course to help PC Lauren's transition.

The training is likely to cost thousands of pounds but could help to protect the force from a potentially embarrassing lawsuit if PC Lauren were to experience discrimination.

Kevin Sharp explained in his letter that she suffered from gender identity dysphoria, which left her feeling like a woman trapped in a man's body.

"As from today, Lauren starts her new life and over the next few weeks you will receive awareness training during which you will be able to read a personal letter from Lauren," he said.

Humberside Police's A Division covers Grimsby and the surrounding area in North-East Lincolnshire, which according to the force website suffers from a "disproportionately high level of crime and disorder".

Nearly 30 per cent of residents live in 10 per cent of the most deprived boroughs in England, and last year police recorded in excess of 27,000 crimes there - a third more than the average.