A few short weeks before I retired from Police Scotland I was sent a photograph from the police training facility at Jackton in East Kilbride which detailed the changing areas for individuals undertaking a fitness exam. The hastily printed signage on A4 paper stuck to a flip chart directed male-identifying, and female-identifying individuals into different class rooms to get ready. Those who said they were gender neutral were pointed toward the upstairs accessible toilet which was fine and dandy unless of course you were someone who might have needed to access it as an actual toilet.

Now, being a chap who knew what was what when it came to an employer’s obligations on most things due to my role in the Police Federation - like for the sake of argument, changing and toilet facilities, I tweeted “What - no changing rooms? @policescotland” and then followed that with a link which detailed the legal requirement to provide separate washing, toilet, and changing facilities for men and women.

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I knew that in doing so a minority would immediately cry transphobia and stamp their feet in a tantrum – not least as they see transphobia everywhere. But the point I was making was an important one; and as the case of Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife this week proves, a continually relevant one too.

There is, or ought to be nothing remotely controversial about highlighting to any employer – but especially to the polis who should know a thing or two about it – of the need to comply with the law. Alas, the police response was typically insipid and what followed showed just how far removed from reality the service had become.

Within hours of my post a coordinated series of........

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