Man With Facial Deformities Told to Leave Restaurant Because He Was ‘Scaring the Customers’

Could you imagine going out to a restaurant and being told to leave by the staff because you were "scaring the customers"?

Mr. Oliver Bromley was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis Type 1, which is a genetic condition where non-cancerous tumors grow on his nerves, including his face. Due to this, he has a facial deformity. When he was visiting a south London restaurant, he was taken aback when restaurant staff approached him and said the unthinkable.

The incident took place in August when he was receiving inpatient treatment at King's College Hospital. He found a local restaurant he wanted to eat out at, instead of the hospital food, and noticed its cash only sign. He went to withdraw money and immediately went inside to place his order.

"I went back into the restaurant to place an order, and they told me to 'please leave', because in their words I was 'scaring the customers', and there had been complaints about me," he recalled to BBC News. "There had not been enough time between the time I had been there first, and the time I went back, for anyone to have made a complaint about me so obviously the restaurant staff were not happy with the way I looked."

Bromley reported the incident to the restaurant's management but never heard back. After giving them time to respond, but to no avail, he reported the incident to police who are treating it as a hate crime, though it is unlikely that there will be any arrests made in the incident.

"It's a horrible thing to happen. I took it very personally on the day," he added. He did not reveal the identity of the restaurant in fear of retribution and instead hopes to raise awareness about his condition.

Bromley added that he is okay with people asking about his condition and believes that the restaurant incident could possibly be due to lack of education. He theorized that the staff could have believed that tumors could be contagious.