A SHOP worker who claimed bosses at Marks & Spencer stopped her from using the store's public address system because of her Indian accent has lost her battle against the retail giants.

Pravita Parmar, aged 40, from Great Lever, told an industrial tribunal that she was racially discriminated against by company bosses who banned her from using the system because her accent did not sound professional enough.

After making an official complaint Miss Parmar claimed she was subjected to a campaign of victimisation by colleagues at the Manchester store.

But after considering a week of evidence her discrimination claims were rejected by members of the Manchester employment Tribunal panel, who said that they were concerned by her inability to recall certain events.

Miss Parmar was "extremely selective" with her recollection, the panel said. Her evidence was not "entirely reliable" and she had a tendency to change her evidence.

Miss Parmar joined Manchester's Marks & Spencer store in 1988 as a check-out girl. She worked her way up to the surveillance office where she monitored cameras and controlled the address system.

But in May last year, she told the employment tribunal, she was barred from using the PA because M&S bosses did not regard her accent, described as Indian mixed with Bolton, as professional enough.

Miss Parmar had claimed a line manager came into the CCTV camera room and told her: "As you have an accent I don't want you to use the public address system anymore."

She had been at the store in St Mary's Gate for six months and now works part time at the M&S store in Deansgate, Bolton.

During the tribunal, the panel was also told that it was Miss Parmar's diligence which resulted in the renowned video footage of a suspect IRA van, minutes before a massive bomb detonated and destroyed parts of Manchester City Centre five years ago.

She trained the store's cameras on a white Ford Transit van while staff evacuated the building.

The judgment handing down the panel's decision read: "During cross-examination the applicant accepted that she had not been taken off the public address system because she had an Indian accent.

"She further stated that she had never said that she was taken off because of her Indian accent. Subsequently the applicant gave evidence that she believed that she had been taken off the public address because her accent was Asian and not because it was a Bolton accent."

A spokesman for Marks & Spencer said the company was delighted that the tribunal had found unanimously that it had not been guilty of discrimination.

The spokesman said: "All along we maintained we followed the proper procedures and we are glad that the tribunal recognised this."

He added that they would "most definitely" continue to employ her.

Miss Parmar was not available for comment at her home today.