CHRISTMAS DINNER NIGHTMARE
Christmas dinner turned out to be a complete turkey for builder Joe Whitelaw.
The Scots dad could not believe it when he turned up at the Outside Inn, at Larbert, only to be told the kitchen had closed an hour before they arrived.
Joe, wife Kerry, twins Shakira and Alisha, 15, sons Robbie, 10, and Alexander, 21, and Joe’s sister Anne and her partner, had been looking forward to their first family get together in years.
The stunned builder said: “We arrived in plenty time for our 5pm sit down, to find the restaurant clearly about to close.
“It had cost us £80 in taxi fares and we were starving, but staff told us the kitchen closed at 4pm. “The girls were almost in tears.” Shattered Joe, 44, showed staff his booking confirmation - made a month in advance and which clearly showed a 5pm time slot..
Joe’s wife Kerry, 49, said: “We’d been saving up and looking forward to our first family Christmas get together in Scotland for 16 years as we’ve been living and working in Spain.”
The family sat watching the remaining diners finish their meals while the manager “called head office”.
Joe said: “We were told we’d get a complimentary drink while we waited, but the barman took £10 off the £27 bill which I thought was pretty mean considering the situation wasn’t our fault.
“We were finally told staff would get us something to eat and they’d sort out a table. But by that time, the place was emptying.
“We felt it would be horrible being the only customers left with staff watching every bite because they wanted to go home.
“After the way we’d been treated, it wasn’t the way we wanted to remember our first Christmas back home in Scotland, and paid the taxi firm another £80 to come back and collect us”
Instead of tucking in to roast turkey, the ravenous family had to order Chinese takeaway and spent the day with prawn crackers instead of Christmas crackers. The family contacted Raw Deal. The Outside Inn, in Forth Valley, is part of the English-based Sizzling Pubs chain owned by firm Mitchells & Butlers.
They admitted they had taken the family’s booking “in error”.
However, they declined to compensate the Whitelaws for their £160 taxi fares.
A company spokeswoman said: “The booking does seem to have been taken in error via our online system, for which we can only apologise. Our Christmas bookings did close at 4pm.”
The restaurant insist their team were “happy to accommodate” the family, and there was a “small wait” while they organised a table.
The spokeswoman added: “Once the table was ready, after discussion, the family decided they didn’t want to dine with us after all and chose to leave.”
She claimed the restaurant were not aware that the family were disappointed.
Joe said: “After being repeatedly told the kitchen closed at 4pm, who would have wanted the highlight of their Christmas Day to be the possibility of reheated food in an emptied restaurant?
“The suggestion staff didn’t know how unhappy we were after spending £160 on taxis - only to go home hungry is ridiculous.
“But if their idea of customer service is taking £10 off a £27 drinks order for ruining our Christmas Day, I’m rather glad we escaped their offering from their ‘closed’ kitchen.”
The Sunday Post’s Raw Deal team stepped in.