Omagh pizza business loses £150 after huge ‘false order’

AN Omagh take-away which was conned out of £150 at the weekend, has warned that bogus callers are ‘going to great lengths’ to create false orders and disrupt businesses in Tyrone.

Speaking to the Tyrone Herald, Ryan Gallagher of Papa G’s Pizza explained that on Friday evening, an ‘older man’ who described himself as a ‘local publican’ placed an order for large pizzas, worth £150, to be delivered to ‘his bar’ for 8pm.

Initially, Mr Gallagher suspected no foul play, seeing as how the supposed caller was someone well-respected in the area, and gave their name, address, including postcode, and number without stumbling or hesitation.

“The order was prepared, but when we got there at 8pm, we were told,  ‘No, this wasn’t ordered’,” Mr Gallagher said. “The publican himself wasn’t even there. However, a family member of the person was present, and they were very disheartened that somebody would actually do that under the business’s name.

“Normally you can tell if a teenager is creating false orders; we get it all the time. When you ask for a number, they just drop the call. But this was completely different.

“People are now going to great lengths to create false orders. However, lessons are learned going forward.”

Instead of letting the pizzas go to waste, though, Papa G’s kindly donated them all to the patients of the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital.

“It would have annoyed me more seeing them all go in the bin,” Mr Gallagher added.

“So I thought: ‘Do you know what? We’ll turn this into a positive, and we’ll send this stuff out to the Elm & Lime Wards. And that’s what we did.”

He continued, “The pizzas went to a good home, but it wasn’t a nice thing to do to a small family business on a busy Friday evening at the end of the month.

“My advice to the caller is either get in touch and pay for this order – or come and do an honest day’s work, which I think may benefit them in the long run.”

In a statement, police in Omagh said that there are aware of a number of incidents locally.

“We understand that fast food outlets in the Omagh area have been receiving bogus calls,” they said. “If you receive a large food order, please conduct whatever checks you can to ensure that you are dealing with a legitimate customer.”