Wimpy South Africa is probing an incident in which a customer was arrested and assaulted for lighting a cigarette at one of its restaurants at OR Tambo International Airport.
The newspaper Rapport quoted Scania Trucks legal manager Chris Cronje as saying that the manager at the restaurant grabbed a cigarette from his mouth when he declined to order something to eat or drink while he sat smoking in the smoking section of the establishment while he waited for his flight.
After an extended altercation, he was arrested, pushed to the ground and kicked and punched by about 20 guards and police officers, Cronje told Rapport.
Wimpy SA operations director Derrian Nadauld said the newspaper article did not provide both sides of the story. “We are in the business of keeping customers. Something like that would not have happened.”
He said the restaurant group is working with police in investigating the case and will comment on the matter once the investigation has been completed.
Nadauld told the Mail & Guardian Online that he couldn’t comment on the specifics of the case as it is under investigation.
However, he did say that the incident started when the man came into the store just to use its smoking section, and had a disagreement with some staff. This was followed by a physical altercation with two Wimpy staff members.
Nadauld was not aware of the 20 guards who allegedly attacked the man, but he said that security was called following the incident. The incident resulted in a case of assault being opened against the man, Nadauld said.
He called the incident “regrettable” and said that Wimpy and the police are still working to determine exactly what had occurred.
The investigating officer on the case was unavailable for comment on Monday and the Airports Company South Africa did not respond to the M&G Online‘s requests for information.