A Bristol restaurateur who is delivering free curry to people in self-isolation said it has "been a bit crazy", but added he is committed to keeping the service running.
Urban Tandoor owner Sujith D'almeida announced last Friday that his staff would deliver free food to anyone within a two-mile radius of the Small Street restaurant who went into quarantine as a result of coronavirus.
One week on from launching his act of goodwill the 39-year-old said the restaurant has so far given away a total of 48, but has also received numerous prank calls from people feigning illness.
Despite the fake callers he is still happy to keep the offer going, but he has introduced some new measures to make it harder for disingenuous people to take advantage.
"It's all gone a bit crazy to be honest," he said. "As news spread further about what we were doing we got more and more prank calls.
"We noticed that a few people were calling continuously from withheld numbers to try and trick us, so we've brought in new measures now.
"We now ask people to email some personal information to us including their name, address, their place of work and when they were isolated so we can keep track of things a bit more.
"We also ask people to email evidence of a doctor's note if they have it, but that isn't absolutely essential. We want the elderly to come forward more as they are most likely to be affected by this."
Sujith, who also runs the Urban Kohinoor in Clifton, said he will stop the offer if the UK goes into lockdown as other European countries have done, including Ireland as of Thursday (March 12), or if people "massively abuse it".
He added it is "frustrating" when the restaurant receives a fake call as it puts pressure on his already-busy staff, but that he he's still glad he's providing the service.
He added: "We're losing a lot of business at the moment as a result of coronavirus, as a lot of other restaurants in Bristol are, but I don't care about that too much.
"I just hope it all dies down soon and too many people aren't affected by it. Hopefully by doing this we're putting a smile on the faces of those who need cheering up."
Urban Tandoor can be contacted on 0117 929 9222.
