Seniors fish and chips Preston manager investigated over 'creepy' late night messages to women customers
A fish and chips shop has condemned the conduct of one of its managers after a number of women said they received private messages from him after visiting the chippy.
Seniors were made aware of the complaints yesterday when a customer at its Ingol branch in Preston came forward.
The young woman had raised her concerns on a local Facebook page after receiving a private message from the personal account of the chip shop’s manager.
“How was your fish?” asked the man in one of the messages sent around midnight, followed by a laughing emoji.
“Anyone else received messages like this after eating at Seniors Fish & Chips?”, said the woman, who shared a screenshot of the message to the Facebook group.
“I walked in and ordered my food, so how on earth he knew my name is beyond me. Just found the message in my requests. Badly weird if you ask me.”
More local women have since come forward saying they too have been contacted by the same man after visiting the chip shop off Tag Lane.
“I’ve not been in since he messaged me and now I always feel weird walking past,” said one of four other women who said they’d also received messages.
The messages were reported to Lancashire Police after it was feared the women’s names had been acquired through a data protection breach.
Seniors owner Alistair Horobin, who runs another nine chip shops around Blackpool and the Fylde coast, said he has spoken with officers and says they are satisfied no criminal offence has been committed.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has been approached for comment regarding any alleged breach of GDPR.
Alistair was quick to condemn his manager’s conduct and said an internal investigation is under way. He did not say what disciplinary action he would be taking against the manager.
Speaking to the Post, Alistair said: “It’s been a harrowing 24 hours but we have dealt with this swiftly and the manager will be disciplined for breaching Seniors social media policy.
“These messages were sent from his own, personal account and have nothing to do with Seniors or any of our social media accounts.
“We can assure our customers that this did not involve any GDPR breach. It appears that he is in the same local Facebook groups as them. We understand the messages did not contain anything illegal, nothing like that.
“We would support police in any investigation but they have confirmed to us that no laws have been broken. I believe he’s made a huge mistake and he will be punished for not following our social media policy.”
In an email to one of the women, Seniors operations director Paula Smith said: “We are a family business and totally condemn the conduct of our manager who will be disciplined for his conduct and reminded of our social media policy.
“On behalf of the Horabin family, myself and the whole of operations, please accept our apologies and trust this matter will be thoroughly investigated and addressed this evening.”
Lancashire Police and the Information Commissioner’s Office were approached for comment.