A man with a facial disfigurement says he was asked to leave a restaurant because he was "scaring customers".
Oliver Bromley, 42, was
receiving treatment at King’s College Hospital in Camberwell, southeast London
when he decided to visit a local restaurant for lunch.
However, when he went to order
food, a member of staff said they had received complaints from customers about
his face and asked him to leave.
Oliver has a genetic condition
called Neurofibromatosis Type 1, which causes benign, non-cancerous tumours to
grow on his nerves.
Upset and shocked by the
experience, Oliver wrote to the restaurant but said he received no response.
He is now sharing his story in
the hope that it will educate people about his condition and prevent similar
situations in the future for him and others.
He has been in contact with the
charity Nerve Tumours UK, who said what Oliver experienced is sadly "not
uncommon".
It has organised meetings with
UKHospitality to call for more awareness in the hospitality industry.
Oliver, who helps run an NHS mental
health crisis helpline but is currently off work, said he had been undergoing
treatment at King’s College Hospital last month when he decided to ‘take myself
for lunch’.
"The food looked good when
I looked in one window, and I went inside," he explained.
"They said they were cash
only, so I took some money out and went to place my order.
"The gentleman behind the
counter told me there had been complaints about me, and for me to please leave.
"I asked him to repeat
himself, and he said I was scaring customers."
Oliver, who lives in Reigate,
Surrey, said he was "incredulous" at what the employee told him, as
he had hardly been in the restaurant long enough for someone to complain about
his presence.
"I hadn’t even sat
down," he continued. "I went to place my order and they asked me to
leave.
"Perhaps they had seen me
browsing, perhaps they didn’t want me in there.
"I don’t know, but that is
what they said. These are the facts.
"Obviously, I was very
upset. I went to a local park to console myself and think of a plan of action
on how to deal with it."
After writing to the
restaurant, which he doesn’t want to name, and not receiving a response, Oliver
contacted the Met Police, who recorded the incident as a hate crime.
The Met confirmed to the BBC
that officers had visited Oliver about the incident and said that although no
arrests had been made, the force took "reports of hate crime
seriously".
Nerve Tumours UK director,
Karen Cockburn, said: "We were extremely disappointed to hear news of the
dreadful, but sadly not uncommon, incident that Oliver Bromley experienced
while attempting to purchase lunch.
"We work tirelessly to
raise both the profile of the condition and the work that we do to help
patients; and also to educate the wider public about the condition.
"If Oliver felt that he
had been discriminated against, there is the option that he could have a case
under the 2010 Equalities Act, in which ‘severe disfigurement’ is a protected
characteristic.
"We have written to both
the restaurant concerned, and to UKHospitality, the trade association body.
"Whilst we have not
received any response from the restaurant, I am delighted to say that
UKHospitality has offered to work with us to raise awareness of the condition
among the hospitality sector, and I am meeting with them shortly to kick start
this joint venture."
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