Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Cafe’s card-only policy ‘discriminatory’
A coffee chain has been blasted for refusing cash payments from a group of people with learning disabilities.
The incident at Caffè Nero in Canterbury city centre has been criticised by county councillor Rory Love, who branded it “divisive and discriminatory” to accept only cashless payments.
“Cash is a great leveller,” he said. “Some people are in the position where they’re just not able to apply for a bank account or a card.”
Cllr Love’s wife, Vicki Love, witnessed the incident at Caffè Nero’s St George’s Street branch on a Saturday last month.
About six people with learning difficulties are said to have entered the cafe with a carer.
“The carer didn’t have a card and she had been encouraging the group to choose the items they wanted, then count out their money to make sure they had the right amount,” said Cllr Love, OBE, who sits on Folkestone and Hythe District Council and Kent County Council.
But on arriving at the till, the group was reportedly told the branch does not accept cash.
“The carer told the staff ‘well I don’t have a card’,” said Cllr Love. “I think my wife assumed that there would be some alternative solution, but the next moment they were all leaving.
“They handed their food back and they all went. It must have
been one hell of a disappointment.”
Cllr Love says he was “horrified” when his wife told him what had happened.
“Even if that was [Caffè Nero’s] policy it’s absolutely outrageous behaviour,” he said.
“If I’d been there I would have offered to pay with my card for them - they clearly all had the cash ready. But it was one of those things that happened so quickly.”
Like many businesses, Caffè Nero temporarily stopped
accepting cash payments at all its 600 UK branches during the pandemic.
While the chain says it is now reintroducing cash at its cafes, there are concerns the pandemic has catalysed a move towards an increasingly cashless society - helped along by the advent of contactless card payments and systems such as Google Pay.
Cllr Love fears this will exclude some parts of society, and wants to see cash safeguarded as a form of payment long into the future.
“I can’t help feeling some businesses have used Covid as an excuse to remove this kind of inconvenience for them, because they don’t want cash,” he said.
“And it’s incredibly divisive. It’s almost using corporate leverage to push people into behaving in a particular way, which is not right.
“There are people who for whatever reason have got themselves into a position where perhaps they’re not eligible for a card.
“To say to those people ‘no, sorry, you can’t do it’ is terribly, terribly divisive and discriminatory.”
Caffè Nero did not respond to the incident witnessed by Mrs Love, but said cash will be accepted at Canterbury branches this month.
A spokesman said: “We temporarily suspended cash payments as part of our Covid-19 measures to protect staff and customers this was something both groups requested and supported.
“As we gradually emerge from Covid-19 restrictions, we have now reintroduced cash in nearly 150 stores nationwide and are continuing to reintroduce it on a store-by-store basis as part of our ongoing review of the best and safest way to operate. Our stores in Canterbury will resume accepting cash on August 30.”
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