Via Metro World News
Birthday boy Jon Benson narrowly missed an armed robbery at a McDonald’s in Peterborough, England, thanks to a well-timed bathroom break.
The electric contractor, who visited the restaurant while working in the city, joked about the near miss, saying, “Birthdays are getting a bit depressing now that I’m 39, so it was great to have something to talk about over a pizza that evening.”
He added, “My wife is a trainee dietician, so she was more concerned by the fact that I’d been to McDonald’s than my safety.”
Nobody was hurt after a man wearing a balaclava toting a handgun burst into the fast-food eatery. Meanwhile, local police are investigating any leads relating to the robbery. Benson told Metro about his lucky escape.
You missed the armed robbery, but did you manage to get your meal?
I only went in there for a coffee but obviously I didn’t get [it]! It was weird walking out of the toilet into an empty restaurant – I was trying to work out what was going on. I could see police and staff outside and one girl, a member of staff, was petrified.
Did people wonder what you were doing walking out of the scene of the crime?
I got a few stares. The weirdest thing was that I was expecting someone to come over and say, ‘Who are you’ or ‘what’s going on?’ But they didn’t. I mean I could have been an accomplice.
What’s your impression of Peterborough?
[Laughs] I’ve never been before. I was just there to price up a job but I was keen to see what the town center was like because there was a sign saying ‘Historic Peterborough.’ I thought it might be a nice place to go for a weekend. But after the robbery, I just wanted to get back to safe London [chuckles].
Ten minutes in the loo is quite a long time for a bloke, so just what were you doing?
Without sounding crude, I couldn’t use my phone in the car. People had been texting and Facebooking me for my birthday and I was filtering through a few things on my phone in the toilet. A lot of people have taken the piss for taking 10 minutes in the toilet.
