A Broughty Ferry Wetherspoons has been forced to apologise again after a second pensioner was wrongly accused of abusive behaviour.
Linda Whittet was at Jolly’s Hotel last Wednesday when she was told she had been barred from the premises over an incident a few weeks earlier.
The 72-year-old was left “shaken” when a member of staff said she had been reported to the police.
Linda, who insisted she had done nothing wrong, says the worker threatened to remove her from the Gray Street pub if she “caused any more trouble”.
It came less than 24 hours after Derek Jamieson, also 72, was falsely accused of “throwing a glass” at a transgender person.
The retired photographer was left embarrassed in front of a crowd of people when he was kicked out of the venue – despite protesting his innocence.
Linda, who was accused of having been involved in the same incident as Derek, told The Courier: “I went in at 10.30am to meet a friend for coffee.
‘I thought it was a joke at first’
“I went up to order the coffees, then a young member of staff came over to me and said I had been identified as someone who had been banned from the premises.
“He said, ‘If you cause any more trouble you will be removed’.
“I thought it was a joke at first but he was deadly serious.
“It was quite intimidating – I was really shaken by it.”
Linda, who is a regular at the venue, asked for photographic evidence of the incident so she could prove she had done nothing wrong.
But she claims the member of staff refused to do so, telling her it was “in the hands of the police now”.
She added: “He wouldn’t tell me exactly what I had done wrong.
“I am really quite stressed about this.
“I was so taken aback – he wasn’t nice about it.
“Now I’m frightened to put my foot in the door.”
Wetherspoons apologies for second case of ‘mistaken identity’
JD Wetherspoon has since apologised for the incident, which it calls “a case of mistaken identity”.
The pub giant also confirmed it was linked to the previous claims levelled against Derek.
A spokesperson said: “This is a case of mistaken identity and we sincerely apologise to Ms Whittet for our error.
“The confusion arises from the same incident of unacceptable behaviour which led to the inadvertent barring of another customer the evening before, to whom we have also apologised.
“Our customer services team are liaising directly with Ms Whittet to address her concerns as to how the matter was handled and we hope very much to welcome her back to the pub in the future.”
