Some people will go to any lengths to get their hands on a tasty takeaway, like the foodies who took an £80 taxi ride from Nottingham to Binley Mega Chippy in Coventry after it rose to unlikely fame on social media. But one woman was said to have used more sneaky methods to bag herself free fish and chips from an award-winning Nottingham chip shop.
According to the Cod's Scallops, she swiped the chippy's loyalty card stamper from between the tills while staff were busy and filled up a card. Customers have to spend £15 to get a stamp and, after four visits, receive two free sides, such as beans, curry sauce or mushy peas.
But the woman didn't stop there, staff at the chippy claim. They say she made sure there were eight stamps, guaranteeing her a mini portion of cod and chips for free. The woman had gone into the chip shop in Bramcote Lane, Wollaton, placed her order and paid, it's claimed.
Read more: Discovery in dilapidated greenhouse at Nottingham house leads to sparkling success
According to the chippy, a few minutes later she went outside and returned saying she'd found a fully stamped card in her handbag. Staff explained they refunded her the £6 charge. After she'd left another, staff said customers told workers what had just happened and when they reviewed CCTV it showed what appeared to have happened.
Chippy owner John Molnar said: "You believe the customer. She said she'd found a full card so we refunded the mini fish and chips. Stealing is not ideal. Times are tough and the amount of press fish and chip shops have got recently with the price, we have still carried on with this loyalty card.
"It's very underhand. Sometimes we may get the odd soft drink go from the cabinet but that was blatant hand through the till. It's very brash. Weirdly, when you look back you see the signs, she's looking around a lot and was very anxious at the till almost.
"It's only after the event you look back and can see. If she'd looked straight up she would have seen there was a camera looking at her and it says you are being recorded."
Mr Molnar said the woman didn't appear poverty-stricken or desperate for food. "Sometimes we have some homeless people who walk in that are desperate for fish and chips and we feed the homeless quite a lot and we do a lot with charities to help the community."
The stamper is now being kept under the counter out of the way. The incident hasn't been reported to the police. "I don't think the police will come out for that. When we've reported things in the past they've said it is what it is, but we thought we'd put it out there to warn other businesses," added Mr Molnar.
