A London restaurant boss who was sacked from his previous job for exposing himself to a customer who had complained about his parking, has won an unfair dismissal case.
Recep Turhan, 52, who now owns the Jack the Chipper fish and chips shops in Whitechapel and Greenwich, previously worked at the Poppies takeaway in Camden Town.
A resident identified only as ‘Mr Jones’ grew increasing frustrated because he believed council parking officials had been ‘lenient’ towards Poppies staff, an employment tribunal in Holborn heard.
‘Mr Jones’ then pursued workers including Mr Turhan and took hundreds of photographs of their alleged rule-breaking.
After becoming irritated by Mr Jones pursuing him, Mr Turhan pulled down his trousers and exposed his penis to the resident in 2016.
A photograph was taken of the incident which was put on a leaflet at the front of Poppies. The image was captioned: ‘Exposed: Poppies’ Mini Flasher’ and was sent to Mr Turhan’s bosses.
Four years later, in September 2020, Poppies owner Ural Hassan called Mr Turhan in and sacked him without notice, the tribunal heard.
But a judge has now found that the employer had not acted ‘reasonably’ and there had been ‘shortcomings’ in the procedure which was followed.
He also said the 52-year-old was also not informed of a right to appeal and ruled that Mr Turhan had been wrongly and unfairly dismissed.
Recep Turhan, 52, who now owns Jack the Chipper branches in Whitechapel and Greenwich, previously worked at Poppies in Camden Town. He was sacked from his job at Poppies in September 2020. Pictured: Mr Turhan (left) and his son Cagri (right)
Mr Turhan, who recently faced backlash over the name of his new restaurant, was not able to bring someone to the meeting with Poppies (pictured) to support him when he was dismissed
He now runs Jack the Chipper in Whitechapel (pictured) and Greenwich, two fish and chip shops
Judge Bernard Hodgson found that Mr Hassan had not given Mr Turhan information on the issue and there was no proper investigation.
The judge had also found that the employer had not acted ‘reasonably.’ He added that there had been ‘shortcomings’ in the procedure which was followed.
He said: ‘The action of the claimant in showing his penis was possibly a fundamental breach of contract, although this is far from certain.’
Mr Turhan, who recently faced backlash over the name of his new restaurants, was not able to bring someone to the meeting with Poppies to support him when he was dismissed.
He is now trying to sell his stake in Poppies and so will be back at court next month.
Speaking to the Camden New Journal after the tribunal, Mr Turhan said: ‘I made a mistake. I’m human, you make mistakes no matter what job you do, whether you’re president or prime minister, or work where I do. Only God makes no mistakes.’
He said he was having a bad day and was stressed and had enough of the man taking photographs of him. But he said he regrets what happened.
However, Mr Turhan was left shocked by the events which led him to be called in to be sacked nearly five years later. He said he could not believe he was being asked to leave after he had spent so much time looking after the business away from his family and building it up.
In a statement on the tribunal decision, Poppies Camden said: ‘We are disappointed with the employment tribunal decision and are reviewing appeal options. Recep Turhan was dismissed for gross misconduct after the photograph was discovered of him ‘flashing’ outside our family-run establishment.
‘We believe it to be a criminal offence and took immediate steps to dismiss his inexcusable and took immediate steps to dismiss his inexcusable and unlawful behaviour.’
Mr Turhan has since opened two ‘Jack the Chipper’ restaurants with a business partner.
His Greenwich branch (pictured) opened after the success of the original shop in Whitechapel but he faced backlash from locals who thought the name glorified the serial killer
But he faced backlash from Greenwich locals who thought the name ‘glorified’ the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper.
Mr Turhan appeared on This Morning in August 2021, with his son Cagri Turhan, who manages the shop.
They confirmed to Eamonn and Ruth that they would not be changing its name despite the negative feedback and reviews.
Mr Turhan said at the time: ‘I’m being respectful to women complaining about the name and I say to him, “I’ll give the person 50% discount and everybody will be happy.
‘I don’t think we will change the name because this is the history from 160 years ago. I’m only using a play on words for the name and nothing else.’
Source: Daily Mail
