'My chippy was mistakenly targeted by Reform boycott'

A chip shop owner has criticised "misinformation" after his business was targeted over a mistaken link to a Reform UK by-election candidate with the same surname.

Marco Valente said a flyer calling for a "boycott" of Valente's Fish and Chips in Kirkcaldy was posted through his door on Tuesday – two days before Romano Valente was due to stand for the party in the Glenrothes West and Kinglassie vote.

Marco said he and Romano - whose father also previously owned a chip shop in the Fife town - were not related and any connection could have been eliminated with "very little research".

The SNP's Zoe Hisbent won the vote for the Fife Council ward ahead of Romano, with Labour finishing in third.

The flyer, which was later posted on Facebook by Marco, calls for customers to "bankrupt" Romano.

It added they should "support other fish and chip bars" which were "inclusive of everyone".

Marco said he had posted the letter online in case others had been distributed in the area.

He said he did not bring his political beliefs in to work.

"Although Romano Valente has the same surname, he has no connection with our shop," he told BBC Scotland News.

"If you go back three or four generations, there will have been cousins in some family tree, but he has never worked with us or been affiliated with our business.

"His father did have his own business in the town, but it was never any connection with us."

Marco said Romano Valente's family had sold their business after he had died and it had since become a kebab shop.

Valente's was started in Kirkcaldy by Marco's great-grandfather in 1921.

It moved to its current site on Overton Road about 18 months later and has served the local community ever since.

Marco is the fourth generation of his family to run the business.

He said Romano and his family were well known around the town – a fact which had been lost on whoever printed the flyer.

He said: "I think if someone had done even very little research, they would have known we weren't connected.

"Romano has his own social media, he is well known. He ran his own shop with his father.

"Regardless of any political views, in our line of work, we're just here to produce the best food we can and make customers happy.

"I don't think our political views come into it. We keep business separate. We don't go into gender, politics, religion."

He added: "Football is a different matter, and if you're not Raith Rovers fans, you'll get a bit of stick but it's always good fun and good banter."

Marco said he had been advised to report it to Police Scotland but opted not to.

He said the response from his customers had been overwhelmingly positive and added the flyer had had no impact on trade.

Marco said: "I was worried at first about, but people have been quite positive.

"I don't think it was a prank, I think it was intended to be harmful."

Romano Valente has been contacted for comment.