A restaurant threw me out because of my facial disfigurement

A man was thrown out of a restaurant after staff claimed his facial disfigurement had led to complaints from customers. 

Oliver Bromley, who has Neurofibromatosis Type 1 which causes non-cancerous tumours to grow on his nerves, was asked to leave the restaurant in Camberwell south London in August. -

Mr Bromley was an inpatient at King's College Hospital when the incident occured. After being treated he decided to the visit the restaurant - which he has decided not to name - for a bite to eat. 

After noticing the eatery was cash only, Mr Bromley left to withdraw some money. However, when he returned staff told him to "please leave", because in their words, he was "scaring the customers."

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Bromley said: 'There had not been enough time between the time I had been there first, and the time I went back, for anyone to have made a complaint about me so obviously the restaurant staff were not happy with the way I looked.'

The comment, which he took 'very personally', left Mr Bromley very upset but he did not challenge the staff member and chose to leave. 

He has since complained to the restaurant and reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police.

Mr Bromley says he does not mind people asking questions about his condition and believes the incident boils down to a lack of education. 

He said: 'They probably thought having tumours was contagious or something.'

Now, he wants to try and create 'some good' from the awful incident by creating more awareness for people with facial deformities. 

He added: 'It's not about me. It's never been about me.' 

Karen Cockburn, charity director of Nerve Tumours UK, said, 'We were extremely disappointed to hear news of the dreadful, but sadly not uncommon, incident that Oliver Bromley experienced whilst attempting to purchase lunch. 

'We work tirelessly to raise both the profile of the condition and the work that we do to help patients; and also to educate the wider public about the condition.

'We have written to both the restaurant concerned, and to UK Hospitality, the trade association body.

'Whilst we have not received any response from the restaurant, I am delighted to say that UK Hospitality has offered to work with us to raise awareness of the condition amongst the hospitality sector, and I am meeting with them shortly to kick start this joint venture.'

In a statement the Met Police told MailOnline: 'Police were called at 7.20pm on Wednesday August 21 to reports of a discrimination incident in Camberwell.

'A man in his 40s stated that he was refused service at a local restaurant due to a facial disfigurement connected to his medical condition.

'Officers attended and spoke to the victim. No arrests have been made.

'We take reports of hate crime seriously and record all instances whether they pass the threshold to be classified as a crime or not.'

WHAT IS NF1 NEUROFIBROMATOSIS?

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a rare genetic condition that affects approximately one in 3,000 people across the world.

It is also known as von Recklinghausen’s disease and it occurs because of a mutation on a person's NF-1 gene. 

This gene regulates a protein that plays a role in cell growth and is thought to be a tumor suppressor. The tumors that grow can be both cancerous and non-cancerous. 

In addition to growths, neurofibromatosis can lead to an abnormally large head, short stature, heart problems, seizures and learning disabilities.

Most people with the disease live to a normal life expectancy.

While it can be passed down through families, about 30 to 50 percent of people who have the disease do not have any family history of it.

Neurofibromatosis is usually present at birth but it can develop at any age, with tumors growing at different rates.

Early symptoms include flat brown birthmarks and bumpy growths.

Cases can range from mild to severe with small sporadic tumors in various places on the body, to extreme cases where hundreds or thousands of growths appear across the body. 

Source: NIH; National Organization for Rare Disorders