'£4,000 tip will change my life'

A waiter who helped serve the mystery foreign businessman who spent more than £42,000 in a West End nightclub stands to turn his life around after netting a hefty share of the massive tip.

Lee Tyler, head waiter at Browns in Covent Garden, says he will get the equivalent of a year's worth of tips after he was at the centre of the huge spending spree, which also brought a £4,734.35 tip.

As the Evening Standard revealed yesterday, a middle-aged German-born Spanish fruit importer accompanied by his wife walked into the packed club on Great Queen Street on Saturday night and, in an act of incomparable (and to many, incomprehensible) altruism, declared: "The drinks are on me".

By the end of the night, the bill came to £42,608.25, including £10,000-worth of Cristal champagne for the owner Richard Traviss, who was celebrating his 30th birthday; 49 bottles of £325 Cristal Rose, 20 bottles of £120 Bollinger as well as numerous expensive shorts for customers.

For Mr Tyler, 32, who has been working at the club for two years after graduating from the Guildford School of Acting, this one night will help him pay off his student loans and go towards the deposit on a new home for himself and girlfriend Claire Daniell.

Speaking at his home in Anerley, he said: "We thought this guy's generosity was some sort of joke until he asked staff to flip a coin. We couldn't lose as, if he won the flip, we would get a £100 tip and, if we won, he would tip us £200. It was crazy.

"It was like we had all won the Lottery. I usually get about £30 a session so my share of the tip is a real windfall. It's the equivalent of a whole year's worth of tips in one night and that can't be bad."

Miss Daniell, 24, who has been helping to support Mr Tyler while he tries to carve out a career in the competitive world of acting, is now looking forward to a care-free Yuletide. She said: "This man should have been wearing a Father Christmas outfit, he has made that many people so happy."

The drinks are on me!