A man with a disfigured face has told of the moment he was asked to leave a London restaurant because staff claimed he was “scaring away customers.”
Oliver Bromley, 42, had recently completed a treatment session at King’s College Hospital in south-east London and decided to have lunch at a nearby eatery. However, according to a report in The New York Post, after attempting to place his order, he was asked to leave the place because patrons reportedly complained about his presence.
Bromley, who has neurofibromatosis type 1, a genetic disorder that causes benign tumors to grow on nerves, expressed surprise at being suddenly asked to leave.
“I wasn’t even seated,” he said, adding that when he went to place his order, he was asked to leave. A man behind the counter told him there were complaints about him, Bromley said, and asked him to leave. “I asked him to repeat himself and he said I was scaring away customers,” he said.
Although troubled by the encounter, Bromley hoped that her experience would lead to increased awareness and education about her position in the hospitality industry. He expressed a desire to help people better understand their situation, saying, “There is a lot of naivety around this issue.”
Bromley said there is nothing to fear, “it’s just something some individuals have to live with”.
The New York Post quoted him as saying, “I hope this will raise awareness and have a positive outcome in the future and prevent this from happening again.”
Bromley also reached out to the restaurant, which he did not name, but said he did not receive a response. They then reported the matter to the Metropolitan Police, who classified the incident as a hate crime. The Met told the BBC that officers had visited Bromley and although no arrests were made, the force stressed that they “take reports of hate crime seriously.”
However, Bromley said this was the first time he had faced such direct discrimination. “People stare — especially little kids — but I’ve never been directly treated like that,” she told the New York Post.
Trading Standards has also been informed of the incident, and the charity Nerve Tumors UK is set to meet with UKHospitality to discuss improving staff education.
Karen Cockburn, director of the charity, said she had written to both the restaurants concerned and trade union body UKHospitality. “Although we have not received any feedback from restaurants, I am pleased to say that UKHospitality has offered to work with us to raise awareness of the state of the hospitality sector, and I am excited to launch this joint venture. “I am meeting with him soon.”
