Dine and dashers ‘fled restaurant without paying £425 bill for beef and oysters’
Staff managed to corner one of the culprits and stopped her from leaving until police arrived.
A group of four women are accused of brazenly walking out of an Italian restaurant without paying their £425 bill.
The women, accompanied by eight children, enjoyed oysters and other starters, roast beef worth £137.70 and various pasta dishes at La Bella Vista in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex.
The group are then said to have got up and proceeded to walk out of the restaurant without paying the £425.38 they owed.
Staff managed to corner one of the culprits and stopped her from leaving until police arrived, reports the Mirror.
Officers walked her to a cash machine where she withdrew £60, telling police that’s all the money she had.
Sussex Police are now investigating the incident, which happened on Sunday afternoon.
CCTV footage shows the group loitering by the front door after officers arrived.
The women had allegedly pretended to find something in their food half way through the meal and asked for a discount.
Ido Esposito, one of the owners, told the Mirror they seemed to be enjoying their meal until the complaint was made and then carried on eating as normal afterwards.
He said the women weren’t watching the children, who were causing ‘havoc’.
‘They were screaming and shouting and the ladies did nothing,’ he said.
One boy was apparently playing with an ‘expensive’ ice bucket and when asked by Mr Esposito to stop, the child allegedly said ‘say please’ in an ‘aggressive tone’.
He said another child didn’t like his apple juice so tipped it on the floor.
The restaurant’s owners say this is the third dine and dash group they’ve dealt with in the past couple of months.
Mr Esposito believes one group is related to the women on Sunday and said they also used the ‘professional complaint’ technique, pretending to have an allergic reaction during the meal despite not mentioning allergies when they arrived.
He said the three walkouts caused a loss of almost £1,000 in total.
The restaurant posted photos of the women on its Facebook page on Sunday and wrote: ‘Warning to all small business owners! This despicable group brazenly walked into La Bella Vista this afternoon with their eight children, ordered over £400 worth of food and drink and then refused to pay.
‘The police managed to recover £60 for us, a mere drop in the ocean! This is the third time we have been hit by groups like these in the last couple of months, so please be aware.’
A Sussex Police spokesperson, who said a member of staff reported being assaulted during the incident, told Metro.co.uk: ‘We can confirm we are investigating a report of a group of people making off without payment from a restaurant in St Leonards.
‘The group are alleged to have left La Bella Vista in Grand Parade around 5pm on Sunday January 7 without paying for their meal.
‘A member of staff also reported being assaulted.
‘Officers have attended the premises and engaged with staff and enquiries are ongoing.’
Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to report it online or call 101, quoting serial 748 of 07/01.
One newlywed couple in Italy took dine and dash to a whole other level in October when they failed to pay their £7,000 bill.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.