Mum gatecrashes her girl’s party — to pay

ELLE STRONG wanted to celebrate her 14th birthday with three friends at Nando’s — but the Durham teenager had to call her mother (both pictured right) when staff refused to take her cash.

It was the last day of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and the girls had to queue for two hours outside the chain’s Metrocentre branch in Gateshead. But when they got in, staff said they would have to use an app to order and could not pay with cash.

Elle’s mother Nicola, 42, had given her £70 in cash to cover the meal and none of the girls had a debit card of her own.

Fortunately, Nicola had been dining out with relatives nearby. When she arrived, an employee told her she could put her card details into a Nando’s app, which one of Elle’s friends had on her phone. But Nicola preferred to pay the £30 bill with her card at the till, which was allowed.

Nicola says: ‘I just thought, this is ridiculous.’

A Nando’s spokesman says: ‘Due to Covid-19 safety procedures, we are operating an order-at-table app which only accepts card payments. We are sorry if this causes any confusion for customers.’