CUSTOMERS AT A FIVE STAR FRENCH RESTAURANT WERE DR
CUSTOMERS AT A FIVE STAR FRENCH RESTAURANT WERE DRIVEN
AWAY BY THE CHEF’S FAWLTY TOWERS STYLE SERVICE, AN INDUSTRIAL
TRIBUNAL HEARD ON MONDAY.
ONE CUSTOMER AT THE TOP ‘LA CUISINE’ RESTAURANT WAS TOLD BY
CHEF GEOFF CLARKE IF HE WANTED FISH TO ‘GO TO THE LOCAL CHIP SHOP’,
IT WAS ALLEGED.
OTHER DINERS AT THE RESTAURANT – ONCE MENTIONED IN THE GOOD
FOOD GUIDE – WERE KEPT WAITING FOR THEIR FOOD WHILE CLARKE TINKERED
WITH HIS CAR.
AND WHEN HE HAD FINISHED WITH HIS REPAIRS CLARKE RETURNED
TO HIS KITCHEN COVERED IN GREASE.
RESTAURANT BOSS MR STEFAN SEVERA, 61, TOLD THE TRIBUNAL
CLARKE REPAIRED HIS CAR IN THE FIRM’S TIME.
‘CUSTOMERS WERE
WAITING FOR FOOD, BUT MR CLARKE WAS NOT IN THE KITCHEN’, HE SAID.
‘HE CAME BACK 20 MINUTES LATER, COVERED IN GREASE AND
WITH HIS HANDS DIRTY AND SAID HE HAD BEEN REPAIRING HIS CAR.
HE HAD
BEEN PUTTING ANTI-FREEZE IN IT.
‘
AND HE CLAIMED CLARKE PLAYED HIS MUSIC CENTRE SO LOUD THAT
THE PRESIDENT OF THE TENANTS ASSOCIATION IN QUEENS COURT COMPLAINED.
THEN HE CHOPPED BONES IN THE PASSAGEWAY AT THE BACK OF THE
KITCHEN JUST TO ANNOY HER.
‘HE ONCE REFUSED TO COOK FISH,’ MR SEVERA COMPLAINED.
‘HE
TOLD ME TO COOK IT MYSELF AND HE TOLD A CUSTOMER ”GO TO THE FISH AND
CHIP SHOP”.
THE CUSTOMER NEVER CAME BACK’.
THE KITCHENS WERE DIRTY, MR SEVERA ADDED.
‘MR CLARKE JUST
GRINNED AND TOLD ME ”DO IT YOURSELF”.
‘HE JUST USED TO PLAY CARDS WITH THE KITCHEN PORTERS AND HE
WENT FOR WALKS IN WORKING HOURS.
‘
MR CLARKE’S BEHAVIOUR HAD CAUSED THE RESTAURANT’S OTHER HEAD
CHEF TO LEAVE, SAYING ‘HE’S IMPOSSIBLE TO WORK WITH’, MR SEVERA
ADDED.
BUT MR CLARKE, WHO IS CONDUCTING HIS OWN CASE, CLAIMS ‘WE
NEVER PLAYED CARDS WHEN CUSTOMERS WERE IN THE RESTAURANT’.
AND HE ADDED: ‘I WAS ONLY SACKED AFTER I HAD TOLD MR SEVERA
I WAS THINKING OF SETTING UP IN BUSINESS ON MY OWN’.
CLARKE IS CLAIMING UNFAIR DISMISSAL AFTER BEING SACKED
FROM HIS #150 A WEEK JOB AT THE RESTAURANT IN QUEENSWAY, BAYSWATER,
IN FEBRUARY THIS YEAR.
THE HEARING CONTINUES.
ENDS/MFL
