Restaurant boss posts pictures of customers who 'fled without paying', shaming them into returning to settle up

14 August 2023, 12:06 | Updated: 14 August 2023, 12:30

The owner of a restaurant where customers ran away without paying posted pictures of the culprits online, shaming them into coming back and footing the bill.

Jamie Cox, owner of the Lounge @ 15 cafe in the Cornwall town of Bude, said a group of four left without paying their relatively modest bill of £20 on Saturday.

He and staff tried to catch them as they ran, but the four guests got away.

But Mr Cox was able to identify the culprits as he looked back over CCTV, and put the pictures on social media.

They were soon tracked down to a local campsite. The four came back and paid their money.

"When they had all their drinks two people left and then another two people left a little later and I got it on camera," Mr Cox told Cornwall Live. "Literally two minutes later the staff ran after them and basically they went home blatantly without paying but I knew the exact time so went through CCTV and put it out on social media last night.

Read more: Pair 'flee Indian restaurant without paying £63 bill' after one 'went for a smoke'

Read more: Pair flee pub without paying £88 food and drink bill as police release CCTV

x"Then one of my friends saw my post and said they were staying at the campsite where he was working and the customers came in today and paid [the bill]."

Even though their bill was relatively small, Mr Cox said the "principle" was more important.

He added that the incident "puts a damper [sic] on things", and that the dine-and-dash was not the only example of bad behaviour staff had to endure over the weekend.

Mr Cox said: "Separate to that, we've had another really nasty incident today with some customers who have been rude and we've actually had to ask them to leave.

"They were literally throwing food all over the floor and there was just no respect for anything."

It comes amid a flurry of similar incidents of customers leaving without paying bills for food and drink.

Two men left an Indian restaurant in Darlington in County Durham £63 out-of-pocket after fleeing without paying their bill.

One of the men said they were going 'out for a smoke' before doing a runner from Arvelli.

The restaurant showed pictures of the two men on their Facebook, as they called for members of the public to come forward with any information they had.