Pub exposes six women who 'dine-and-dashed' after racking up £140 bill on food and drink
2 April 2024, 11:17 | Updated: 2 April 2024, 12:00
The search is on for six women who ate £140 worth of food and drink at a country pub, before allegedly sticking two fingers up at staff who tried to stop them from leaving without paying.
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The group, who were accompanied by young children, fled the Wheelbarrow Castle in Worcestershire after chowing down on the pub's popular £14.95 carvery.
Owner Sarah Hutchins shared CCTV images of the women on Facebook to try and track them down.
The pub is now trying to make up the losses after the 'dine-and-dash' incident occurred last Saturday at around 5pm.
The women left in two cars; one was a dark blue 4x4 and the other was a dark coloured VW Golf.
They also allegedly made rude gestures at staff who chased them down after realising what was happening.
The incident has been reported to the police by staff.
Mrs Hutchins said: "It's very rare that someone leaves without paying. It has happened a couple of times before where people have come back and paid, probably out of shame.
"They don't seem to give a monkeys."
She was not in the pub on the day but was told that her staff tried to chase the group before they sped off.
Ms Hutchins said occurrences like this one are the reason why pubs are suffering.
"We literally cannot afford to lose income," she said.
"These have a massive effect on the business. We are having to make up the loss by selling extra carveries to cover the cost.
"It's a big hit.
"We are lucky in the fact that our carveries on a Sunday are among the best in the region - they are our saviours.
"We do have a warning to customers that CCTV is in operation," she added.
No arrests have been made, according to West Mercia Police.
This comes after a group of 'dine-and-dashers' feasted at the Black Bull Inn, Moffat, Dumfriesshire, in southern Scotland before allegedly trying to leave without paying.
However, the group of six were swiftly walked back to the pub by police to pay.
Restaurant runners are very frequent - the most recent figures from the Home Office for dine and dashing reports of 12,610 incidents taking place in 2018.
