Manchester - Trafford Centre - Anonymous Review

Nandos mistreated my 6 years old son with Autism. Very disturbing.
I put in a complaint and they have not responded as suppose to within 5 working days.
I am a mother of 3 young children, all under the age of 10 years old. My youngest child (turned 6 years old today) has been diagnosed with Autism. We visit Trafford Centre Nandos every week as my son with Autism loves Nandos. I am very disturbed and disgusted how me and my children were treated at Trafford Centre Nandos this evening by the manager James and one of the staff members Miles. We spoke to a lovely lady called Joyce at 5pm (as soon as we arrived at Nandos) and explained my son has Autism and he doesn’t understand the concept of queuing and as we cant physically queue up and if we can come back around 5.40pm - 6pm. Joyce understood the situation and she said that’s absolutely fine as i gave plenty of notice and when we go back to Nandos and if another member of staff is at the front, just tell them to ask for Joyce. We went back at 5.45pm and spoke to Miles and asked for Joyce, he advised Joyce was on her break so i explained I came at 5pm and I explained the situation to him regarding my son having autism and he doesn’t understand the concept of queuing and was told it was okay to come back at 5.40 - 6pm as i gave plenty of notice and she will get the table ready. He was very rude and disagreed, i then asked to speak to the manager as at this point my son with autism was getting very distressed. I then again explained to James (the manager) the situation and the fact we originally came at 5pm but he wasn't helpful at all. I told him I've never had this problem before and it's not fair how me and my children were being treated. As I always ask what the queue time was and then come back to Nandos at the time I’ve been told to come back. He refused and i was told he cant help us. Although we came originally at 5pm. I told him I've always spoken to Mark Marshall in the past and James (todays manager) said well I’m Mark Marshalls manager and i will speak to him and he shouldn’t have allowed it. In the past I have always rang and spoken to Mark Marshall (another manager) and i ask him what the queue time was every time i ring or speak to him in person and for instance if it was 1 hour i would then say no problem i will arrive/come back in an hours time. He's been really understanding and helpful as he has seen me several times before struggling physically queuing as it causes my son with autism great anxiety. And Mark Marshall has been great and understood the situation and although i can not physically queue with my children. My son was crying sooo much as he could not eat at Nandos and ruined his birthday as he was soo excited to have his birthday meal at his favourite restaurant Nandos and to treat a 6 year old, on his birthday in this manner is purely disgusting. I strongly feel the staff and Nandos really need to be trained and need to be educated on how to treat people/young adults and children with Autism or other disabilities and not to discriminate them and treat them in this horrible manner. The experience me and my poor children had today was disgraceful and shocking
My son has never been treated in this way in other restaurants/supermarkets or retail shops before. In fact in Primark they have a separate till for people/children who have Autism that we speak to a member of staff and the staff takes us to a different till which has no/less queue so its an easy quick transaction as on one occasion i was queueing in Primark and a member of staff seen me struggle with my child with Autism and she approached me and she calmly said don’t worry she will take me to another till where there’s no queue and told me in the future I do not need to queue in a long queue and to always approach a member of staff once I’ve finished shopping and they will take me to separate till where there’s no queue. As we were walking out my son was crying soo much in the car and made my other 2 children soo upset seeing their younger brother in such a bad state. In the past I have rang Horwich Nandos before hand and explained the situation and as soon as I get there, if they say the waiting time is 20 minutes and then I explain nicely I rang before hand and explained my son has Autism. They straight away do there best and get the table ready.