A man has been banned from a restaurant after staff claimed his facial disfigurement had sparked complaints from customers.
Oliver Bromley, who suffers from neurofibromatosis type 1, which causes non-cancerous tumours to grow on his nerves, was asked to leave the restaurant in Camberwell, south London, in August.
Mr Bromley was in hospital at King’s College Hospital when the incident occurred. After receiving treatment, he decided to visit the restaurant (which he has chosen not to name) for a bite to eat.
After realising the restaurant was cash only, Mr Bromley left to withdraw some money. However, when he returned, staff told him to “please leave” because, in his words, he was “scaring customers”.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Bromley said: “There hadn’t been enough time between when I was first there and when I came back for anyone to be able to make a complaint about me, so obviously the restaurant staff weren’t happy with my appearance.”
Oliver Bromley (pictured), who suffers from neurofibromatosis type 1, which causes non-cancerous tumours to grow on his nerves, was asked to leave the restaurant in Camberwell, south London, in August.
The comment, which he took “very personally”, left Mr Bromley very upset but he did not question the staff member and decided to leave.
She has since complained to the restaurant and reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police.
Mr Bromley says he does not mind people asking him questions about his condition and believes the incident was down to a lack of education.
He said: “They probably thought having tumors was contagious or something.”
Now, she wants to try to create “something good” out of this terrible incident by raising more awareness about people with facial deformities.
He added: “It’s not about me. It’s never been about me.”
Karen Cockburn, charity director at Nerve Tumours UK, said: ‘We were extremely disappointed to hear the news of the terrible, but sadly not uncommon, incident Oliver Bromley experienced while trying to buy lunch.
Bromley says she doesn’t mind people asking her questions about her condition and believes the incident is due to a lack of education. “They probably thought having tumors was contagious or something,” she said.
‘We work tirelessly to raise the profile of the disease and the work we do to help patients, and also to educate the general public about the disease.
‘We have written to both the restaurant in question and to UK Hospitality, the trade association.
‘While we have not received any response from the restaurant, I am pleased to say that UK Hospitality has offered to work with us to raise awareness of the condition in the hospitality sector, and I will be meeting with them shortly to kick-start this joint initiative.’
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police told MailOnline: ‘Police were called at 7.20pm on Wednesday 21 August to reports of an incident of discrimination in Camberwell.
‘A man in his 40s reported that he was denied service at a local restaurant due to a facial disfigurement related to his medical condition.
‘Officers responded to the scene and spoke to the victim. No arrests have been made.
“We take reports of hate crimes seriously and record all cases, regardless of whether they pass the threshold to be classified as a crime or not.”