Accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have distanced themselves from the demand by their recruitment contractors that female employees in contact with PwC customers must wear high heels.

Following the furore caused by a temp being sent home without pay by PwC contractors Portico for refusing to go out and buy a pair the accountants have said that the discriminatory policy is not theirs, and is one that they are now “discussing” with Portico.

Actress and model Nicola Thorp,27, blew the whistle on the demand made of her and has collected thousands of signatures on a petition urging the government to make it illegal for companies to force women to wear high heels at work.

Question is, given the number of intelligent and independently minded women that must work in senior positions at PwC why has it taken this long, and a junior temp, for the nonsense to come out?