A Paul Weller fan has told how staff at a curry house mistook him for the singer – and says he was forced to deny being the Modfather after being asked for his autograph eight times.

Martin Carroll had gone to see his idol in Wolverhampton on Tuesday night when he found himself at the centre of a bizarre case of mistaken identity.

By the end of it, the 56-year-old, who has dead straight blonde hair just like the star, was screaming ‘I’m not Paul Weller, I’m just Martin from accounts’ but no one was listening.

The saga began as Martin from Stratford-upon-Avon, was waiting for his mate near the concert hall when a chef appeared from a nearby restaurant and asked him to sign his apron.

‘I told him, “I’m not Paul Weller”,’ said Martin, ‘but that was just the start of it.

‘My friend Carl likes a curry before going to a gig so when he arrived we asked if they were open, went in and sat down.

‘One member of staff came over and asked for a picture when we got out starters and I told him that I wasn’t Paul Weller but they weren’t listening.

‘When the bill came, it was about £110 so my mate and we went halves on it and I showed them my card.

‘I even got out my phone to show them a picture of me with Paul Weller to show them what he really looked like.

‘At the end of the meal, the restaurant owner came over with her daughter asking for an autograph and I told them too that I was Martin. I must have told them eight times.’

But this was not enough to convince Bilash Restaurant that they had not just served a star.

Within minutes of the snap being taken they had uploaded it to their Facebook page with the words: ‘The legend Paul Weller here dining tonight just before performing at the halls.

‘Thank you #paulweller for choosing us for your dining experience.’

They even tagged in their local newspaper.

Martin, a married dad, said: ‘Carl rang me about it yesterday. It is just so embarrassing. It looks like I’ve conned my way to a free meal by pretending to be my hero.

‘But the meal was not even free and I told them so many times that I wasn’t Paul Weller.

‘My teenage son said, “Dad, that is embarrassing” and I have deactivated my Facebook because so many people were messaging me about it and I am mortified.

‘They find it funny but it’s not funny for me. It makes it look like I’m pretending to be someone I’m not, like I’ve gone looking for a freebie.

‘I have emailed the restaurant to say that we had a lovely meal which we paid for but could they please take the post down because as I told you at the time, it’s just not true.

‘I even had to email the Paul Weller news site to explain that I was not trying to blag anything because they had used it.’

Martin, an accounts sales manager who has been attending Paul Weller gigs since he saw The Jam as a 14-year-old, added: ‘Over the years I have had people coming up to me after they’ve had a lot to drink asking if I’m Paul Weller.

‘The truth is that he’s 66 and I’m 56. Anyone who is a real fan knows I’m not him.

‘I have met him a number of times and I hope he would know that I’d never try to pass myself off as him.

‘I was going to go and see him again in a few weeks time but now I feel so paranoid I may not go.’ 

A spokesman for the Bilash Restaurant said: ‘He should not have allowed the picture to be taken if he wasn’t Paul Weller. We thought he was.

‘I took the picture. It was like Paul Weller here I am. They knew we were going to share it.

‘They took our business card and said they’d recommend us.

‘I just took a picture but if it’s not the right man, I’ll take it down.’