Stolen car rams into a popular Nando’s with a very pointed five-word message graffitied on the doors

A stolen car with the words ‘We don’t accept cash here’ has been rammed into the facade of a popular fast food restaurant after it decided to go cashless this year.

The Volkswagen sedan was driven through the front of a Nando’s restaurant on Barkly Street in Footscray, inner-city Melbourne, early on Friday morning.

The incident is believed to have been caused by a decision the South African takeaway chain made in May to go cashless.

The decision sparked outrage, with Aussies condemning the move.

The restaurant addressed criticism of signs in its stores suggesting that concerns about the decline in cash are simply conspiracy theories.

“Sorry, I think we’re part of the New World Order now,” the sign read.

‘Just kidding. With card payments, we spend less time counting coins and more time perfecting your chicken.”

But dozens of Australians were less than impressed.

The incident is believed to be caused by the South African takeaway chain’s decision to go cashless earlier this year (pictured is signage in store)

‘I understand that it is a company’s right to refuse payment methods. As someone who primarily uses cards, I still think this is a really dumb move and I’ll do it elsewhere,” one longtime customer wrote on Reddit at the time.

“It begs the question if card is so much more convenient for business, why are surcharges still allowed,” another commented.

“Maybe I’m a boomer-ish Gen Z member, but it’s quite ironic that legal tender is slowly becoming something that’s only useful for purchasing non-legal items,” a third wrote.

But not everyone was against this measure.

‘Not alone [cash] it makes you vulnerable to robberies…it always takes so long when you have to count coins and leaves people waiting in the back,” said one.

“The problem with cash is that handling, managing and transporting cash is a business and ironically increasingly unprofitable,” added a second.

A Nando staff revealed that customers often complained about the cash ban.

‘Nothing new. No charge for card, Nando’s is expensive enough like lol. “It’s annoying when customers try to complain to me or scold me for it, but there’s not much I can do about it, I wasn’t even there when the decision was made,” they wrote.

Emergency services are pictured at the scene at a Nando’s on Barkly Street in Footscray in inner-city Melbourne, where a car was rammed through the front of the restaurant at 2.15am on Friday

Victoria Police are currently searching for the driver who fled the scene shortly afterwards.

No injuries were reported and nothing was stolen from the restaurant.

A police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘Emergency services were called to a fast food restaurant in Barkly Street, Footscray at around 2.15am after reports a car had crashed into the front of the building.’

‘On arrival no one was present and a stolen white Volkswagen sedan was still on site. At this stage, investigators do not believe the building was accessed and the exact circumstances are yet to be established.”

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has footage is asked to contact police.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Nando’s for comment.