KFC fast food restaurants in England and Wales were the scene of a violent assault nearly every day of the year in 2022, new police crime logs reveal.
Staff at the fried chicken takeaway joints face year-round aggression from angry and irate customers, and have to deal with punch-ups breaking out between diners.
Now, new police data has revealed the most violent KFC branch is the one in Brixton, south London.
The data gives details of incidents including employees being pelted with their own chicken by angry diners and one terrifying moment where staff had to barricade the doors from a mob of rampaging youths.
Fights have started inside the restaurants that have seen customers kicking and punching one another, with some disputes carrying on inside after being triggered by a car parking row outside.
The survey, carried out by freebets.com, uncovered a total of 297 assault incidents logged last year by police at KFC restaurants in England and Wales.
However, as 10 of the 44 police forces were unable to provide data the true total could be even higher.
London logged a total of 37 punch-ups at KFCs last year, with the most being recorded at the branch in Brixton Road, south London (footage of a fight at the branch in July 2019)
KFC in Sittingbourne, Kent, has imposed a ban on unaccompanied under-18s at certain times
London logged a total of 37 punch-ups at KFCs last year, with the most being recorded at the branch in Brixton Road, south London.
Videos shows how this chicken shop was the scene of chaotic fight when a woman in hair rollers chucked a wet floor cone over the counter at a worker before attempting to grab her.
The footage of the KFC in Brixton, shot in July 2019, shows the evening dispute between the two women escalate into a full-blown fight.
Shouting from both parties can be heard as one woman repeatedly shouts: ‘come here, come here.’
The woman can be seen violently grabbing at the woman across the counter as other KFC staff attempt to stop her from reaching the worker.
Customers have erupted into violence at England’s KFCs after getting angry because they had already been barred due to prior bad behaviour.
Included in the offences which took place in the capital’s KFCs were death threats being made, an assault on a police officer and a racially motivated attack.
And another video from 2019 shows a woman leaping the counter at KFC to attack a worker behind the till, with a food fight erupting at the branch in Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham.
And this week a KFC in Kent was so overrun by violent incidents that they banned unaccompanied under-18s at the weekends and imposed security guard enforced on-the-door ID checks.
The fried chicken chain’s outlet in the Kent industrial town of Sittingbourne took action in an attempt to restore order after it was blighted by anti-social behaviour.
A video from 2019 shows a woman leaping the counter at KFC to attack a worker behind the till, with a food fight erupting at the branch in Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham
KFC customers raid and steal chicken after they were denied service for being disorderly in Finsbury Park, London after Wireless Festival in July 2016
Staff said they are now carrying out age checks on visitors from 4pm on Fridays and from midday on Saturdays and Sundays – with any unaccompanied children banned.
There are no signs at the branch enforcing the rule, but one anonymous worker told Kent Online: ‘We have to have security here as there are problems with the kids.’
Included in the newly released police logs were seven incidents connected to the KFC in High Street, Rhyl, north Wales, and six to the KFC in Corn Market, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.
South Wales police dealt with an incident where a 19-year-old woman was assaulted and kicked in the head during an racist attack at a KFC near Cardiff. The teenager passed out during the assault in which the attackers shouted racial abuse at her.
Devon & Cornwall police recorded a case where a person believed to be high on drink and drugs went into a KFC in Plymouth before attacking a couple who he punched and spat on.
In South Yorkshire there were a string of attacks on KFC employees who were manning the drive-through tills, often with customers throwing their drinks at staff.
Another assault logged by the same force saw a woman have her phone stolen following an attack as well as an argument in the car park between two motorists which carried on inside the store.
North Wales police said it had an attack at a KFC in Colwyn Bay where the caller said they had been assaulted and strangled by a group of offenders. Another caller said their 15-year-old daughter had a drink poured over her by a mystery woman at the same branch.
One violent altercation in Gwent saw the staff have to barricade customers in the restaurant, and then release them through a fire escape, as they battled to keep out five violent youths who were trying to kick the front door down.
A woman launched a foul-mouthed racist rant at staff inside a KFC in Ashton-under-Lyne in front of Families in December 2015
She was escorted out the fast food restaurant by another KFC customer
A shocking fight outside a KFC in Croydon which was witnessed by a crowded street where two men appear to beat up two girls in October 2015
The same force had a case where a customer in the drive thru was angry that the food fell into their lap so they came into the store and threw the remnants onto the counter.
In a Suffolk KFC a man used a knuckleduster to injure another man in an assault, while in Hertfordshire the manager was assaulted by three men who vaulted the counter to attack him.
West Yorkshire police had a report of drug dealers operating outside a KFC in Leeds, while in Staffordshire officers had a report of an aggressive, drugged-up customer who when he was refused service started to damage equipment and smashed the till.
A Lincolnshire KFC had a case where a couple who were sitting down and eating got into a heated argument with each other. The woman was so scared that she called the police in the middle of the dispute to stop her partner shouting at her.
In West Mercia there was an incident where a KFC employee was injured after having chips thrown at them by an irate customer.
A KFC spokesperson said: ‘At KFC, we simply do not tolerate any violence towards our guests or team members which is why we work closely with the police and local councils so that everyone can feel safe at our restaurants.
‘Our teams do a great job in preventing and limiting these types of incidents with processes that are set in place but unfortunately sometimes such instances do occur. Safety is and will always be our top priority.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12364591/UKs-violent-KFCs-revealed-fried-chicken-restaurants-mayhem-kicked-year.html
