Halfords staff leave racist message on customer’s phone

Staff phoned customer to confirm booking but forgot to hang up and ended up leaving racist abuse on voicemail

Halfords staff leave racist message on customer’s phone
Halfords Autocentre in Grays, Essex. Image credit: Google Streetview.

Two Halfords staff have been sacked after making a customer phone call and, after forgetting to hang-up, left the customer with racial abuse on his voicemail.

The pair, who had worked at the Halfords Autocentre in Grays, Essex, said the man was ‘the sort of person who would drive to Aldi for a bog roll’ after he had accepted the store’s free car check.

The other added: “Something for nothing is all they want, those people.”

The victim, a 20-year-old economics student, told The Mirror: “I had to listen to the voicemail message a few times to make sure they were definitely saying what I thought they were.

“I’d already been to the store and it seemed they didn’t want to deal with me.

“When I heard the voicemail, I realised why.”

Having listened to the abuse, the student who has asked to remain anonymous, went back to the branch to confront the pair.

He said: “The woman ran to the back of the store. I told the man I’d heard his conversation about Africans.

“He said it was normally people with funny names that book the free health check.

“It was like he didn’t understand what he was saying was wrong.”

Having threatened to take the matter further, Halfords later offered a free service and a set of tyres.

The victim added: “It’s like they just tried to buy me off.”

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