…By Enitan Thompson for TDPel Media.
Two friends were asked to leave a Wetherspoons pub in Chatham, Kent, following an allegation they were smoking weed in the beer garden.
The two men were left surprised when the pub’s deputy manager approached them after they had only taken a few sips of their beers and accused them of smoking drugs.
False accusations and misidentification:
One of the men, Mark Greenfield, who runs a popular boot fair, was told that he and his friend Keith Meredith, 71, were wrongly identified as smoking cannabis.
Despite the admission that the pair had been wrongly identified, Greenfield has been informed he is still banned from returning to the pub.
The case was a comedy of errors, with Meredith accused of smoking weed the day before despite it being his first visit to the pub.
The pair denied smoking or doing drugs, but pub staff still asked them to leave. After leaving, Greenfield phoned the pub to complain and was told that the staff had made a mistake.
However, the apology did not extend to the ban, which was maintained.
A spokesman for Wetherspoons said that the pub had a zero-tolerance approach to drug use and any customer suspected of using drugs would be immediately asked to leave.
“Unfortunately, Mr Greenfield was wrongly identified as having been using cannabis.
It was only afterwards it became clear he had been wrongly identified.
Mr Greenfield subsequently phoned the pub to discuss the incident.
The duty manager apologised for the error but, unfortunately, he became personally abusive to her, in light of the comments made, he was asked not to return to the pub.”
Analysis and commentary:
This story shows how mistakes can lead to embarrassment for customers and staff alike.
The two friends were wrongly accused of smoking drugs and asked to leave the pub, despite their denials.
While the pub admitted it made a mistake, it seems that the apology did not extend to lifting the ban, which seems excessive in light of the circumstances.
The incident shows the importance of accurate identification when it comes to enforcing a zero-tolerance policy, and the need to handle such situations with tact and diplomacy.