Family traumatised after meal at Burger King, Clearwater Mall
Family tells of their dangerous experience at Clearwater Mall's Burger King restaurant.
After enjoying a meal at Burger King in Clearwater Mall, the Wookay family were almost crushed by the restaurant’s roller door.
Mother of three, Natasha Wookay, explained. The family was getting ready to leave the restaurant after a meal on 28 July, at approximately 8pm. Natasha’s mother, Sandy Scott, was helping Natasha’s seven-year-old daughter, Kaela, onto the trolley, while Natasha was busy with her baby, Karsten. She had just walked the pram out of the store when she heard her mother screaming.
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The roller door had closed on Kaela and Sandy was struggling to lift it off her grandchild. The rest of the family jumped into action and Kaela’s father, Rayhaan, injured his hand while keeping the door from crushing his daughter. He sustained serious bruising and muscular spasms in the incident.
A Burger King staff member came to their assistance and rolled up the door. Kaela sustained bruising to her head and back and now complains of headaches and backache. According to Natasha, another child at the restaurant had pulled on the chains that operate the roller door, which caused it to unroll.
The family spoke to the supervisor on duty who was not able to provide much information and did not offer medical assistance. Natasha said they are not upset with the child who pulled on the roller door chains, as one cannot blame a child for being curious; however, they are angry with the restaurant’s management for not having safety measures in place that would have prevented such an incident.
She holds them accountable as the situation could have been much worse, severely injuring her child and even her baby if she had not moved the pram before the incident.
Natasha has since approached Burger King South Africa, which has asked the family to follow up with their insurance company.
“I am horrified with the way they are treating the situation. It feels like they have no remorse and are not taking accountability,” Natasha said.
She added her family will not be going back to that Burger King as they are traumatised and had to take time off work because of the incident.
Burger King South Africa released a statement which said they had received a report that a person was injured by a roller door at their Clearwater restaurant on 28 July.
“We take the safety, security and well-being of our guests and crew extremely seriously and the issue is receiving the urgent attention of the management team. We are investigating the matter and any remedial action indicated by the investigation will be taken, in keeping with our policy to ensure that our guests enjoy the best possible experience,” the statement read.
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