POLICE have launched a hate crime probe after an angry diner left staff a racist note at a Chinese restaurant because they had to wait for a table.
Dumfries police has taken action after a customer scrawled the offensive rant on a napkin at the Hong Kong Star in Dumfries on Thursday afternoon.
The row came when the busy restaurant told one couple that they could have to wait half an hour for a table.s Constable Paul Murphy, based in Dumfries said, "We are investigating this as a hate crime and are keen to speak to a couple who had been in the restaurant for lunch shortly before the note was found."
The pair did not complain during their meal and left after the lunch, apparently leaving behind the note.
The restaurant has said the duo are now banned from the restaurant and said: "A racist remark in this day and age is just not acceptable."
A restaurant spokesman added: “Today during our busy lunch time service we had a young gentlemen and a young lady come in for lunch.
“Due to the amount of customers they were told it could be 30 mins on a table, however a table became available.
“They continued their lunch and left. However when one of our staff went to clear the table and found a very rude note, that was wrote on a napkin.
“We as a small family organisation do not tolerate any racial remark. Whoever you are, you are no longer welcome in the facility."
It is understood CCTV is being used to try and indentify those who may be responsible.
The restautrant has since received an alternative napkin note with a very different tone.
It said: "Lovely customer servies as always! Best Chinese in town. Good food. Smiley faces. Fantastic service. That's why we always come back.
"Thank you, your best customers. x"
The restaurant responded saying: "Thank you for your overwhelming support."
And with a message on Facebook with a winky face added: "Today we found another note, we could read this one (without squinting our eyes). It's good to see there are good people out there!"
Police say the male they are looking for is described as 20-25, short dark hair and was casually dressed. The female was described as 20-25, long shoulder length dark hair and again casually dressed.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel