A restaurant has accused customers of planting a hair in their child's meal during a dispute over macaroni cheese. The family visited The Woolpack on Manchester Road, Haslingden on a Saturday night (May 30) without a reservation.
The Incident
During the meal, they told staff that they had found a hair in their child's macaroni cheese. The dish was immediately removed and replaced free of charge, as the chef offered to make a fresh meal of their choice. However, the replacement meal was then taken home as the child had already eaten the majority of their original dish.
Staff Suspicion
Staff were left puzzled by the mistake as the hair in question was 'notably long' and could not have come from their chef. After the family left, the pub reviewed its CCTV footage and discovered that the hair had been placed there by the family.
The footage shows the moment that one of the adults grabbed a plate from the child sitting opposite her and appeared to stir the hair into the meal. A woman appeared to pull a hair from her head at the pub in Manchester Road, Haslingden. She was seen on CCTV taking the plate from her child opposite before calling staff over.
Additional Allegations
Staff said that further CCTV footage also appeared to show a bottle of ketchup being concealed in a child's hat before they left the premises. The customers also allegedly made off with an ice cream bowl and a teaspoon.
Pub's Response
In a statement posted the next day, the pub defended its staff and said they had acted professionally throughout the incident. They wrote: 'Running a small hospitality business is challenging enough without having to deal with false complaints, threats of social media campaigns, and missing tableware. We are incredibly proud of our team, who handled the situation with patience, professionalism, and far more restraint than most people would manage.'
'We believe businesses have the right to defend themselves against dishonest behaviour just as customers have the right to raise genuine concerns. We will always take legitimate complaints seriously and do everything we can to put things right. However, we will not stay silent when accusations are demonstrably untrue.'
'To our loyal customers: thank you for your continued support. And to anyone who may have accidentally gone home with a ketchup bottle, an ice cream bowl, and a teaspoon last night, our lost property box is always available.'
Public Reaction
The Facebook post has attracted more than 150 comments. One wrote: 'Wow! The brass neck.' Another said: 'That's disgusting. Shocking behaviour. Thankfully you have far more appreciative and supportive customers. Always a good meal and great hospitality every time.' A third added: 'That is disgraceful she is awful' while another said 'It's truly shameful and shameless how some people wish to go about living their lives. Imagine just ripping people off in this way?' Another commented: 'Your establishment is the best. You're always our favourite place to go too. Never had a bad meal. It's always perfect. You accommodate our large family and always go above and beyond. People like that don't deserve your amazing pub and your outstanding staff. Shame on them, it's a reflection of their low life behaviour.'
