By Isobel Williams
A barber who charged extra to cut the hair of “special needs boys under 15” has apologised after receiving an online backlash.
Shwan Kadir, 49, who has owned Rayna unisex salon in Sutton for 17 years put up the sign on his price list.
After it went viral he taped over it and says it was all a misunderstanding but admitted he did charge an extra £2 if the cut went over an hour.
He said he didn’t understand was “special needs” meant and was mortified when he was subjected to so much abuse online.
The controversy started when a Facebook user, Leanne Caffrey, shared a post to the social media site with a picture of the sign stating: “I never out small businesses. But this has made me really cross.”
The owner says that since the post he has received mountains of hate on social media, even receiving a call from someone in Scotland to abuse him.
Shwan, who lives in Sutton with his three children, apologised on social media for the “misunderstanding” and claims that he never meant any harm. The sign has since been taped over.
At the shop today he said: “The sign being there was by mistake. I didn’t know that these words were against the law.
“We have an autism specialist here and we had no idea. If she had told me that the word was wrong then I would have just taken it down.
“I made a mistake, and I fixed it, I am only human. I am not sure what more I can do.
“I’m saddened by the way this has been taken. Me personally and my staff have always done our best to be strong members of the community and we love to speak with you all on your visits.”
He says that the sign had only been up for a couple of months and was immediately taken down when he saw the complaint.
He added: “The hate has affected me, but the local people know what our business is like.
“They have defended me a lot online. I have received thousands of supportive messages from our customers today.
“There are a lot of kids who don’t like getting their hair cut. If some customers take more than an hour we may charge them an extra two pounds, but this is extremely rare.
“We are very good at dealing with kids who have different disabilities.
“We have customers come from all across England because we are the only ones they trust to cut their hair and other places have refused them.”
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