A man has been apprehended following an incident in which a Nando’s employee was struck in the face with a plate by a customer in East London nearly a year ago.
Zahra, who preferred to withhold her surname, previously shared with BBC London that she was attacked in March of last year after a customer expressed dissatisfaction with a highchair at the Stratford location of the restaurant chain.
The student recounted that she informed two police officers from the Metropolitan Police who were present at the scene about the incident, but they allowed the individual to leave.
On Saturday, a spokesperson for the Met announced, “A 32-year-old individual has been arrested in relation to an incident involving the assault of a waitress at a Nando’s restaurant in Stratford that occurred in March 2024.”
The police force has since issued an apology for their handling of the situation, acknowledging that it had not been “addressed promptly by the officers.”
CCTV footage circulated on social media captured the moment Zahra was hit by a man inside the restaurant.
She reported that she was initially subjected to verbal abuse after informing a patron that he needed to relocate to a different table for his baby to use a highchair due to the restaurant’s layout.
Zahra explained that after a manager intervened, the man, who was accompanied by a woman, agreed to change tables, but later she was struck in the face with a plate while serving their food.
“I was taken aback. I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened,” Zahra expressed.
She mentioned that she alerted a female officer on the scene, who appeared indifferent to the assault and directed her to discuss it with her male colleague.
“I felt deeply disappointed and extremely upset by that response,” Zahra added.
In August, a Met spokesperson stated, “An assault report was made to the police during the incident; however, it seems that it was not pursued in a timely manner by the officers involved.
“We are investigating why this oversight occurred and recognize that it does not meet the standard of service that the community in London is entitled to expect from the Met.”
A spokesperson for Nando’s condemned the event as a “disturbing and unprovoked attack” that “would not be accepted” in their establishments.
