In six years behind the fryer at Hooked Fish and Chips in West London, Bally Singh has never seen anything like it. But that changed at 2:37pm this Tuesday (May 13) when a regular casually entered the chippy on Fairfield Road in West Drayton and grabbed a £9 jar of pickled onions from the counter. “I thought he was having a laugh,” said Mr Singh, 42, who is still feeling salty.
“I was on my laptop updating delivery partners. We were just cleaning up. And the guy just walked in. He is a customer, familiar enough. Now an ex-customer. He came in on the phone and picked up the pickle jar. I thought he was having a laugh and joke. He said ‘Sorry’ and went,” Mr Singh told MyLondon.
“I chased after him. He opened up the jar and threatened to pour onions and pickle all over me. I thought ‘what’s the point?’. I do not want my clothes to smell like onions, so I just stopped. What have we come to? I thought, just let it go. There’s an impact on the business, obviously, but what can we do?
“I would think it would be safe on the counter, but I can’t even leave stuff on the counter. We were so surprised, it was only after a couple of seconds I thought ‘That’s shocking’… If he wanted a pickled onion, he could have asked. But the whole jar – what can we do with that?”
Mr Singh, who has no idea what the motive was, said the shop has been forced to hide their charity collection pot in light of the jar theft. The takeaway also took a battering recently, when someone damaged the glass. Asked why he did not report his stolen onions to police, Mr Singh said: “I thought ‘What’s the point?’, it’s just going to be admin.”
In CCTV footage of the incident a man in a white Hawaiian-style shirt, shorts, and white shoes enters the shop while it appears he is on the phone. Using both hands, he immediately reaches across the counter, grabbing the pickled onion jar with Mr Singh stood nearby. After apparently saying something, the man turns right and looks over his shoulder before heading towards a carpark.
Sharing the footage on Facebook, Mr Singh wrote: “A man—mid-call with E.T. himself—STOLE A JAR OF PICKLED ONIONS! I gave chase, but he threatened to launch a full jar at me… and let’s be honest, I’m not trying to walk around smelling like a walking chip shop. Enjoy your stolen pickled onions, you space-dialling bandit. Have a blast, wherever your alien adventures take you!”
Asked if he has a message for the thief, Mr Singh said: “Come and see us and come tell us what the situation is. We will help you out. Thieving is not the way. Spread love and happiness, not hate and stealing.”
If you are in West Drayton and fancy some fish and chips, you can check out the Hooked menu here.
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