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An Indian restaurant is feeling the heat after falsely claiming to
have won one of the major awards of the curry world according to a
local newspaper.
They report the organisers of the British Curry Awards said the
Garden of India restaurant, in Darlington, will be banned from
entering the competition in the future after it printed promotional
literature stating that it was last year's North-East winner.
However, the owners of the restaurant say that the advertisement
was a mistake and have blamed rival Indian restaurants for stirring
up trouble.
The restaurant has also been reported to Darlington trading
standard officers over its use of the awards logo, as well as its
misuse of a picture of staff with celebrity chef James Martin, who
was a host at the awards ceremony.
The Garden of India, in Bondgate, was shortlisted for the Best in
the North-East award, but some of the restaurant's advertising
material has claimed it won the category.
It also showed staff at the restaurant posing with Mr Martin, the
star of BBC's Saturday Kitchen.
Awards co-ordinator Mohammad Raheem said the matter was being
taken seriously.
He said: "These claims are totally untrue and misleading. It
is against our terms and conditions.
"Therefore, we will be banning them from future events and
they will not be able to take part again.
"It's unfair and unhelpful and we want to protect the awards
and the hard work of all the winners."
Anwar Ali, from the Garden of India, said the word
"shortlisted" had been missed off the promotional
literature in error.
He said: "It was an absolute mistake. We're all human beings.
"We've got a very good reputation and were nominated by our
customers.
"We've been established for the last 30 years and established
without their (the British Curry Awards) name.
"It's not that we're going for their name and trying to
re-establish ourselves. This is 100 per cent about people stirring.
"We've won this award in the past, we've got so many awards
we don't need this.
"Our customers will tell you why we're the best. Our prices
are a bit more expensive, but, in my opinion, we're a lot better.
They're completely jealous."
A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman said: "We are aware
of the situation however, we are unable to comment on the specifics
of the case". |
