An OAP says he has been banned from Wetherspoons after complaining when served five bits of chicken – in a ‘ten piece’ meal.
Fuming Derek Elliot, 69, has been visiting the discount pubs for years and often stops in for a bite to eat with his friend, 76-year-old Mike Trewartha.
But on their most recent visit, Derek was aggrieved when Mike was served only five bits of chicken, despite the menu clearly stating ’10 battered chicken breast chunks’.
Derek complained to the manager who refused to apologise, then banned the pensioners when they continued to kick up a fuss.
Derek, from Hayle, Cornwall, would regularly visit the John Francis Bassett in nearby Camborne.
Together with Mike, the duo would take advantage of the lunchtime chicken special.
Derek, a former councillor, said: “After a short time I received my triple chicken feast with no problems.
“But my friend Mike’s meal only contained a bowl of five chicken breast bites whereas the menu clearly stated 10 battered chicken breast chunks.
“I politely called over one of the staff and asked if my friend could have the other five missing chicken pieces.
“He rudely ignored my request and insisted that Mike would have to pay another £1.45 for the additional pieces.
“I showed him the lunchtime menu, which we had ordered from, which clearly indicated 10 pieces of chicken chunks.
“The staff member started to walk away and ignored our comments, I started to again ask that he looked at the menu but he refused and continued to walk away.
“As by now several customers were looking and I felt embarrassed so I raised my voice asking him to look at the menu but he just continued to go away insisting that my friend should pay another £1.45 to get his total of 10 pieces.”
Derek said he was rallied on by other customers, who urged him to speak to the manager.
But when he asked at the bar he was greeted by the same surly member of staff.
Derek added: “As he arrived and stood next to me one of the bar staff came from behind the bar and apologised for making a mistake with our dinner order.
“I thought the gesture was very admirable, praising and thanking them for their apology I again thanked them for their apology.
“However, as there was still no apology from the manager I had to tell him how disappointed my friend and I had been with his complete refusal to investigate our complaint to which he replied that my friend and I had to leave.
“I asked why we had to leave and he again requested that we had to leave.
“I told him we had not even finished the drinks which came with our dinners but he just went to the till withdrew around £4.50 and insisted we left.
“When I went back to our table, two or three people were watching and asking me what was going on when I told them we were being thrown out they could not believe it.”
An aggrieved and embarrassed Derek went home and emailed the discount pub chain.
Although he didn’t receive a reply at first, a later email was responded to by a member of Wetherspoon staff accusing him of bad behaviour and bad language.
They insisted they backed the decision of the pub manager, and banned Derek from using the pub.
“We’ve probably been to Wetherspoon between 30 and 50 times, we think its good value and never had any problems,” Derek added.
“I’m absolutely shocked.
“I’m a quiet person and the worst part is he wouldn’t come over and look at the menu when we had the evidence of how much chicken Mike should have had right there in front of us in black and white.
“After I emailed them they didn’t even ask for my point of view before banning me. I’ve done nothing wrong whatsoever.”
Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “ We appreciate there was an issue at the pub.
“However, the reason the gentleman has been barred is that he was abusive towards staff.
“We will not tolerate this behaviour and back the decision taken by the pub manager.”
