UK Restaurant uses CCTV video as defence

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/421...complained.html

CCTV cameras used to provide 'evidence' against diners who complained

By David Harrison

Last Updated: 1:52AM GMT 11 Jan 2009

It is a jewel in the National Trust's crown, a restaurant that offers fine dining and some of the best Rothschild wines amid the splendour of a 19th century stately home.

But when the Fletcher family went for a pre-Christmas treat at the Manor Restaurant in Waddesdon Manor, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, they were disappointed with their meal.

Marilyn Fletcher, 57, sent a letter complaining of slow service and poor food, in a lunch which cost £127 for four.

But she was left astonished by the restaurant's response. Simon Offen, the catering manager, emailed her to say he disputed her version of events after he had "watched and listened with interest to the video recording of her table".

Mrs Fletcher was horrified that the meal had been recorded on CCTV cameras, and said her family found it "extremely disturbing" and felt "outrage at the invasion of our privacy".

In a letter to the National Trust's director-general, Dame Fiona Reynolds, she asked: "Does the National Trust condone recording, watching and listening to private conversations at customers' tables in National Trust restaurants?"

Mrs Fletcher, from Great Missenden, near High Wycombe, has demanded to see and listen to the recording, and has questioned the legality of Mr Offen's actions.

"There was no legitimate or lawful reason why Mr Offen should have been recording conversations at our table and then listening to them 'with interest'," she said.

A spokeswoman for the Information Commissioner said that CCTV cameras should only be used if there was a "genuine justification" for them, usually to prevent or detect crime. Recording conversations in a restaurant would be "deeply intrusive", she said.

The British Hospitality Association said: "This is the first time we have heard of CCTV cameras being used to monitor people at their tables in a restaurant. You can understand it outside the door or in corridors perhaps but inside the restaurant does seem a bit odd."

When contacted by The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Offen confirmed that he had watched the video to verify Mrs Fletcher's complaints, but denied that any sound recording had been made. The National Trust said the cameras had been installed as a security measure to monitor the restaurant's till, not guests at tables.

Mrs Fletcher, her 58-year-old husband John, and their 20-year-old daughter and teenaged son went to the Manor Restaurant on Dec 22. Mrs Fletcher and her daughter are members of the National Trust and the family had been to the restaurant several times before. The lunch table was booked two months in advance.

"The service was terrible," Mrs Fletcher wrote in her letter of complaint. "We waited 20 minutes at our table until we were asked what we would like to drink."

In an attempt to get some service, Mrs Fletcher went over to three waiters who she said were "lolling about" in another part of the restaurant, only to be told that they worked only for their "half" of the restaurant.

When the cold drinks the family ordered finally arrived they came in glasses that were hot.

More problems followed. "My husband's soup was lukewarm," Mrs Fletcher said. "My son's mushroom pancakes were bland.

"The roast pork portions were mean – just one slice – and the gravy was thick and tasted not unlike Oxo gravy.

"The vegetables were terrible. They tasted as though they were cooked well in advance and then heated up. My dessert was tasteless."

The total cost of the outing, including the meal, parking and a walk around the grounds, was £134.

Mrs Fletcher said the food was "not much better than a school dinner".

Mr Offen replied to Mrs Fletcher with an indignant email. "It is quite clear that whatever we do you will not be happy with us," he wrote. Her attitude, he alleged, was tainted by "a vindictiveness which belies the spirit of Christmas, and it is both unusual and shocking when it concerns a mere lunch for four".

Disputing Mrs Fletcher's version of events, he wrote: "I have spoken with all the staff on duty and watched and listened with interest to the video recording of your table and the restaurant at the time.

"You sat at your table at 14.31, at 14.41 whilst the staff in your room were running about, you stormed over to the cash desk to make your point. At 14.44 your order was taken."

Mr Offen said that, despite the complaint, the Fletchers had eaten all their food – a claim denied by Mrs Fletcher.

"I am tempted to say that it is probably better that you do not use our facilities again," he added.

Earth to Offen: if you want to treat customers like this, you'll soon have none!

In her email to Dame Fiona on Dec 30, Mrs Fletcher accused Mr Offen of failing to accept reasonable criticism and denied that she had been "vindictive."

On Jan 3, after being contacted by this newspaper, Mr Offen sent an email to Mrs Fletcher confirming that he had watched the video "in collecting evidence to either verify or deny your claims" but said the security camera system did not record sound.

Mrs Fletcher said: "Neither I nor my husband believe this. We think he referred to the audio recording to try to intimidate us ... Now Mr Offen sees we are not prepared to be intimidated, he changes his story.

"What if members of our family had discussed a family secret? Or a confidential commercial transaction?"

A spokesman for the National Trust said the camera was "trained on the till" as a security precaution and was not pointed at the tables. No other National Trust restaurant or café had CCTV cameras, the spokesman said.

Waddesdon Manor was built in 1874 in the style of a French chateau for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, a member of the banking dynasty. Today it is owned by the National Trust but is still managed by the Rothschild family, through a family trust. Family members include Nat Rothschild, the banker who was recently at the centre of a political row involving Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, and George Osborne, the shadow chancellor.

The Manor houses one of the world's finest collections of 18th century decorative arts. The National Trust spokesman said the Rothschild family had taken steps to increase security at the Manor, including the installation of the restaurant's security camera.

[Ban Hammer 14,569]

big brother strikes again.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Someone in the restaurant probably thought they were being clever. Its not typical - though it obviously shows how surveillance technologies can be abused.