Mum slams pub chef for refusing to serve son with severe nut allergy
A mum has slammed her local pub for refusing to serve her son as he has a nut allergy.
Allergies are something every restaurant and eatery doesn't mess around with, so when a diner comes in with an allergy it's usually taken with high caution. As most places are accommodating to all dietary requirements, some places will refuse to serve people with allergies due to the risk of contamination.
One mum wasn't happy when the pub she and her family had dined at before decided to refuse to serve her son due to his nut allergy being so severe he has an epi-pen.
Usually an epi-pen is prescribed due to the allergy being so severe it could cause an anaphylaxis shock. The epi-pen releases a burst of adrenaline until the person ishospitalised, so restaurants are usually cautious with diners who have allergies. So when this pub refused the woman's son, she wasn't impressed.
The ordeal, which she described as "very odd" meant she wasn't able to eat at the pub they had visited before, and took to Mumsnet to ask others if she was being unreasonable to "expect to be served". She wrote: "My son has a nut allergy and we eat out once or twice a month. Generally, we get shown an allergy folder or directed to an app to check and give a quick warning about cross contamination and all fine."
Mum's touching gesture to young son who died leaves Morrisons shopper in tears
She claimed she knows the "level" of his allergy, and is happy to take a "small risk of cross-contamination" as she claimed he would never be able to eat out if not. So decided to visit a pub they had been to before. Thinking it was all fine, the family then had a visit from the chef who told them their order "shouldn't have been taken" and that he couldn't cook for them due to there being an allergy. She detailed that there "wasn't actually anything containing nuts on the pub menu".
"I was really confused, and wondered if it was a new chef etc, I explained I'd checked the allergy info on their website, it doesn't contain any allergens and I'm aware of the small possibility of cross-contamination but not an issue for his level of allergy, and he's eaten it before and all fine. But no, he was adamant he could not serve food due to this allergy, he was apparently the kitchen manager and would not risk making a child ill, couldn't explain further than that and went back to the kitchen," the post further detailed.
The mum was then given an apology and a full refund, but claimed she wasn't given a "real explanation" and said they had wasted an hour by the time they got the refund and left. She then added: "My son now doesn't want to eat anything not homemade as 'the man said I'll get ill'," and asked: "Am I being unreasonable to expect to be served?" She later clarified that her son has an epi-pen, but has been "fine" with incidents of food touching nut-containing food.
Mumsnet users flocked to the comments to chime in, and many agreed it could have been handled better. One user wrote: "It should all have been sorted out far better and without messing you about leaving you waiting, but IMO if someone doesn't feel happy they can safely provide food for a customer, they should be able to decline even if the customer wants to take the risk," while another added: "I can understand the chef not wanting to take the risk - I think he should be allowed to say no."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
