Dame Joan Collins kicked out of Ikea after swapping face mask for illegal visor

French forces kicked Dame Joan Collins out of a branch of Ikea for breaking the law by not wearing a face mask.

Dame Joan – who was holidaying in St Tropez with friends including Piers Morgan and Julian Clary – was “pounced” upon in the Swedish homeware store in Southern France, after she opted to wear a clear, plastic visor as she found them easier to breathe in.

But her headgear failed to meet the legal requirements, which have been in place since last month.

“An officious gendarme became deeply offended,” she describes.

“While I was mulling over the benefits of Ikea’s gravadlax vs its smoked salmon, he pounced.

“Gesticulating in Gallic fashion, he yelled at me to put on a proper mask, because visors aren’t legal.

“Chastised, I slunk away, muttering an Anglo-Saxon expletive under my breath, which, as he glared at me, I feared he might have understood.”

Dame Joan, 87, claims she found facemasks difficult to breath through, and prefers her visor alternative. “As it’s less stifling than a ‘muzzle’ mask, I could breathe more easily.”

She has since attempted another variation of the obligatory garments, as seen on staff at St Tropez’s Byblos hotel, to comply with rules regarding indoor spaces.

“I then tried wearing a clear plastic facemask, of the sort which all the staff at the Byblos were wearing, but although it was easier to speak and to be understood, it forced my face into a hideous rictus,” she writes for The Spectator.

Coronavirus cases in the tourist hotspot have been rising after what Dame Joan describes as “draconian” lockdown measures earlier this year.

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