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More on KentOnline
A couple threatened to run over staff after throwing their soft drinks at the owner of a children's indoor soft play centre in Aylesford.
Adventure Kidz phoned the police on Tuesday afternoon after a man and a woman verbally and physically abused employees.
This was not the first incident of its kind there, as employees have been abused daily since the play centre reopened earlier this year.
Andrew Moody, co-owner of the facilities, said he will ban repeat offenders if they continue to abuse his staff.
Since opening from the pandemic, the play centre follows firm hygiene and safety guidelines, making sure all their customers can have fun in a safe and clean environment.
This includes a new seating system to enable social distancing, dividing the establishment into separate play areas, which are regularly cleaned between one playing session and another.
According to Mr Moody, many customers have been getting angry about the new seating system and separate spaces.
He said: "All we are doing is following my company’s policy and government guidelines, and we all need to work together on this.
"But unfortunately, people are blatantly going completely against it."
This Tuesday, a woman was not following the establishment's guidelines, as she was sat in an area still being cleaned by Mr Moody's wife Elizabeth, before the next set of customers came in.
After both owners politely asked the woman to sit in the area she was booked in for, she refused to leave and shouted abuse.
Shortly after, a man joined in.
After being told to leave the premises, the two people shook their soft drinks and sprayed them all over the Adventure Kidz owner, the tables and the floor around them.
As he spoke to police, Mr Moody sent one of his staff members to write down the customers' car licence plate, as advised by the officers.
The employee was assaulted by the male customer, who pushed him three times and threatened to run over the staff with his car if he did not leave.
Mr Moody said that in the 10 years running his business, he never had to call the police. But since their reopening, he has had officers over five times to deal with abuse from customers.
Yesterday, the company wrote a post demanding for more respect.
Mr Moody added: "When you look at all the comments that have been made on the post, there's not one bad comment on there saying that my staff are not polite, or that our place is not clean and tidy.
"We do a wonderful job. So why do we have to have these mindless individuals come down and ruin it?
"I feel it's disgusting. If people want to come into my establishment, the same as going into any other establishment, they need to abide by the rules and regulations.
"The same as if I went into their house. I wouldn't jump all over their sofa and pull pictures off the wall and throw stuff around."
Kent Police said they are investigating the report and enquiries into the circumstances are continuing. Officers are urging witnesses to come forward, quoting reference 46/217713/21.
You can also call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
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