Basildon Pizza Go Go damaged after dispute over free pizza

The group of at least seven teenagers, all between the ages of 16 and 18, targeted the Pizza Go Go takeaway on Basildon’s Whitmore Way after staff "refused to give them free pizza" at around 8pm on Wednesday night.

Shop owner, Mansour Gholami, explained he has previously offered free food to those experiencing homelessness or extreme financial challenges and claims these youngsters sought to take advantage of this as they intimidated staff .

“We sometimes help people who are really in need but the boys on Wednesday wouldn’t stop asking our staff for free pizza,” he said.

“They were out the front of the shop and were playing around with a glass bottle when they decided to break the window.”

The 55-year-old added: “They just ran away. It’s very bad, especially in this difficult economic time.”

The front door of Pizza Gogo was smashed by the youths (Image: Mansour Gholami)

Mansour, who has been running the shop since 2018, claims that he is still in a state of shock following the incident and is particularly disturbed by the age of the disruptive teenagers, who he believes “should definitely have know better”.

Despite the emotional and financial impact of the incident, the despairing shop owner has not contacted Essex Police, feeling hopeless at the prospect of finding a solution through the force as he claims the age of the offenders means any investigation is unlikely to yield a charge.

“I don’t want to waste the police’s time,” Mansour added.

Although he will not pursue legal action, Mansour does have a message for those who damaged his shop.

The veteran shop owner said: “Please stop doing things like this. It is a very difficult time for everyone, including us, and people are still damaging us in this way.

“To pay for their mistake is going to cost us money that could be used in another way.”