By Shannon Bruce
A GYM OWNER in Horsforth took money from his own till and burned it while filming himself on Facebook Live, claiming he wanted to give himself and his staff a wake-up call.
Rakesh Patel, owner of the White Rose Cross Fit gym in Horsforth said when he observed that a customer had not received the attention she deserved he realised he and his staff weren’t passionate about their jobs anymore and were just in the business for the money.
He emptied the day’s takings from the till with the intention of burning all the cash – until other staff members stopped him.
He posted a long video, setting fire to a £20 note on Facebook, but this has since been deleted. However, he later posted another video below explaining his actions…
Mr Patel said: “My focus when I go into the gym, I don’t think about the financial part or how much money I’m going to make. I forget all that.
“The focus should be how can I help these people better. Most businesses when they open they say how can I make more money how can I increase my revenue and reduce my costs, and to me I don’t care about that.
“It should be how can I help the people and how can I serve myself better.”
Heather Hall, 22, a previous member of the gym said: “Raks has made a very public stand by announcing this on Facebook Live.
“He isn’t trying to criticise the staff or himself I think he just wants a different outlook on how things are run and I think this will be considered at the gym.”