Attacked Nando's worker 'let down' by Met officers

A Nando's worker who was hit in the face with a plate by a male customer says she feels "grossly let down" by the Metropolitan Police after officers eating in the restaurant failed to challenge her attacker.

Student Zahra, who did not want to give her last name, told BBC London she was assaulted on 10 March after a man complained about a highchair at the Stratford branch of Nando's in east London.

She can be seen being hit by a man in restaurant CCTV footage later shared on social media.

She said she went over to two Met officers who were in the restaurant, but they allowed the man to leave the scene. The force apologised and said the case had not been "progressed promptly by officers".

'Thought I would be safe'

Zahra claims she was initially verbally abused after telling a man he would need to move to a different table in order for his baby to use a high chair, due to the restaurant layout.

She explained that after a manager became involved, the man, who was also accompanied by a woman, agreed to move.

Zahra said she was hit the face with the plate when she later served food to their table, with the attack being caught on restaurant CCTV.

"I was shocked. I couldn't register what happened, I couldn't process what had happened," Zahra said.

"I remembered that there were two [police] officers already in the restaurant waiting for their food. I thought that I would be safe and that the police officers would deal with him, but that wasn't the case."

Zahra said she alerted one of the officers - a female - who "didn't seem bothered" about the attack, and told her to speak to her male colleague.

Zahra told the BBC she felt alone and let down due to lack of action by the police

She claimed the male officer "took the man outside", but then let him go without taking any of his details or taking a statement and without checking the CCTV.

While the male officer was talking to the man, Zahra said the female officer was "laughing and joking" with the woman and playing with the baby.

"I was really disappointed and extremely upset by that," she said.

Zahra said her manager later showed the officers the CCTV footage of the assault and the police "realised they made a mistake".

Officers' response 'more concerning'

Zahra's attacker has not been caught.

Zahra says she filed a complaint to the Met Police a few days after the attack, but added she was allegedly told by the officers' supervisor "they're humans and they made a mistake at work, the same way you can make a mistake at work".

Since the video of the CCTV footage was posted on social media, Zahra says she has received an apology from the Met Police, but feels "grossly let down by them", adding the officers' response felt "more concerning than the man's behaviour".

"Violence against women is something that happens day in, day out, but it's up to the police to deal with that.

"Especially an assault like that that was caught on camera. You would expect something to be done, but absolutely nothing was done," she said.

She said following the assault, she had been "discouraged and gaslit into dropping the case".

"I felt alone, like I had no-one to support me in that moment. I felt kind of hopeless, I felt extremely vulnerable."

'Shocking and unprovoked attack'

The Met Police said it was aware of the CCTV footage of the attack.

"A report of assault was made to police at the time of the incident, however, it appears this was not progressed promptly by officers.

"We are working to establish why this happened and accept this is not the level of service Londoners should rightfully expect from the Met.

"We have since made contact with the victim and a statement has been taken - we will endeavour to keep her updated with the progress of this investigation."

A Nando's spokesperson said: “This was a shocking and unprovoked attack earlier this year.

"We reported it to the police immediately and have supported our colleague since.

"We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour, the safety of our colleagues and customers is our priority.”