Customer who nicked restaurant lights returns them after proprietor threatened ‘naughty record’
A family-run restaurant that acted with ‘grace’ when they had items stolen have seen them returned by the thieves after they were threatened with Santa’s naughty list
Customers threatened by a family-run restaurant that they would be placed on Santa’s naughty list if they didn’t return stolen goods have brought them back.
The Daily Star previously reported that Manchester tapas restaurant Campo Blanco had shared incriminating footage and asked thieves to return a table light. The thieves, caught red-handed, were threatened with a call to the police.
In the video, shared to the company’s almost 10,000 Instagram followers, a zoomed in video of a table in the restaurant was displayed. Two diners were seated opposite each other, with just one – the man – eating a meal with a pint.
Opposite him sat a woman dressed in green, who picks up a small gold light from the middle of the table to take a closer look. After seeming to approve, she turned the light off before slipping it into the pocket of her coat.
Straight after she laughed and continued her conversation with the man across the table. Campo Blanco captioned the video: “We love our new table lights too. We actually can’t get them anymore as they’ve stopped making them so please bring them back. Also, they aren’t yours!
“If not, we will tell Santa to put you on the naughty list. And by Santa, we mean The Police. Cheers. Merry Christmas.”
Now, the restaurant says it has never been “more surprised and excited”. In a new post on Instagram today, staff said: “Thank you for returning them! It’s been an emotional journey but we can finally draw a line under it and carry serving Tapas.”
The family-run bar, who have served up fresh food for six years, had previously been encouraged to show the faces of the thieves.
But the post showed CCTV footage of the lights being brought back, while the faces of the naughty customers had once again been blurred out. In the footage, one member of staff can be seen with the returned light to the visible shock of fellow Campo Blanco worker Kate.
The post received responses from delighted admirers. One said they were “in awe” of the “grace” shown by staff.
They said: “So many other people and businesses would have named and shamed, and I for one agree with your decision not to, the world needs grace more then it needs more shame.”
Another said: “Nothing like bad PR.” One person added: “Brilliant news power of social media.”
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