A group of seven who dined on a huge Sunday dinner of oysters and lobster thermidors costing a staggering £489 before allegedly “hitting the jackpot” fled the restaurant in an untaxed Audi worth £40,000, MailOnline can reveal can.
Furious bosses at Stubbs Restaurant in Ashford, Kent, today released CCTV footage of diners who they claim left “as quickly as they could” after their meal.
The footage reportedly shows the group leaving in an Audi worth around £40,000 and, according to DVLA records, untaxed.
Stubbs Restaurant released the CCTV photos after publicly shaming the group on Facebook and sharing the receipt for their incredible bill of almost £500.
The restaurant has asked to “please come back and pay your bill,” adding that it is a private restaurant that “will not survive if you do this to us.”
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Furious bosses at Stubbs Restaurant in Ashford, Kent, today released CCTV footage of diners who they claim left “as quickly as they could” after their meal
The footage reportedly shows the group driving away in an Audi worth around £40,000
DVLA records revealed the Audi in which the group apparently fled was untaxed
The restaurant shared the group’s receipt on Facebook, which showed a total of £489.90 was owed
A restaurant has slammed a group of diners who allegedly “ate” a hearty meal of oysters and lobster before storming off without paying the bill
Staff at Stubbs Restaurant in Ashford, Kent, were left fuming as they greeted a group of seven who, after racking up £489, drove off “as fast as they could”.
A post from the restaurant said the group left without paying the bill, which totaled £489.90.
According to the customer receipt images, the group enjoyed three lobster, crab and prawn cocktails, which cost £59.95.
They then reportedly ordered two portions of crispy brie, priced at £17.90, as well as a more moderately priced calamari at £9.95 and chicken liver parfait at £8.95. There were also two orders of a dozen oysters, each costing £16.
For mains, the large group ordered four lobster thermidores, which cost a total of £216, as well as an entrecôte steak with green peppercorn sauce for £31.50 and a skate dish for £23.95.
The group also bought drinks, including three pints of Thatchers at £5.50 each, as well as a couple of 250ml glasses of Malbec at £10.90 each and various glasses of Shiraz and Pinot Grigio.
Alongside pictures of the alleged customers, they wrote: “Please come back and pay your bill!” We are a private restaurant and will not survive if you do this to us. “You ate all your food and we gave you fantastic service… and yet you left as quickly as you could without paying.”
According to the pictures posted by the customer receipt, the group enjoyed three lobster, crab and prawn cocktails, which cost £59.95
They also ordered two portions of crispy brie, priced at £17.90, as well as a more moderately priced calamari at £9.95 and chicken liver parfait at £8.95
A post by the restaurant on Facebook said the group had left without paying the bill, which totaled £489.90
In the comments section of the post, other customers expressed their support for the restaurant.
One wrote: “I’m so sorry they did that.” We ate just around the corner. I wondered why the waitress was looking at us and was probably afraid we would leave too.
‘Terrible. Become like hotels and swipe your credit card when customers arrive. If you have good intentions, you will never complain about it! “Good luck getting it back,” said another.
A third pointed out: “How many more times are you going to let this happen?” Surely alarm bells must be ringing when these people come in and start ordering the most expensive items on the menu.
“I feel bad for you, but this has happened to you several times. So the logic says you need to tighten up your systems.”
A similar incident occurred at the restaurant earlier this year.
On May 4, they shared a picture of two young men on Facebook, writing, “Please come back and pay your bill.”
MailOnline has contacted the restaurant and Kent Police for comment.
This comes after a pub was raided twice in just a few months earlier this year, with patrons leaving without paying.
But a family caught on CCTV ‘going for a run’ after enjoying a £215 Father’s Day lunch at a Cornish gastropub finally settled their bill.
The group of six are said to have paid the bill at The Fisherman’s Arms, Newlyn, in Penzance, Cornwall, in June and walked away without paying after saying they wanted to smoke a cigarette.
The pub later said that those involved in the incident had “paid up”, meaning the matter was “now closed”. They added that they even overpaid “as a gesture of goodwill.”
The pub posted on Twitter to inform people of the dramatic breakthrough.
It said: “We would like to inform you that those affected by the incident on Father’s Day have now contacted the pub and paid the bill in full. In fact, they overpaid as a goodwill gesture. “The matter is now closed!!’
One of the people caught on CCTV is believed to be a man named Edward O’Reilly, 23, who goes by Ned, MailOnline previously revealed.
He is the managing director of a company called Kings Landscaping and lives in a caravan on a touring site next to the A38 in Plympton, Devon.
Several people have come forward to identify Mr O’Reilly in the footage, although the businessman is believed to deny he was in the pub on Sunday and insists it was not him on the CCTV.
The group of six – two men, two women and two children – are said to have arrived at the pub around 5pm and stayed there for three hours.
They downed four Baileys White Russians and two Cosmopolitan cocktails, as well as a cider, three pints of Coca Cola and three starters, six mains and two desserts to rack up the mammoth bill.
Source : www.dailymail.co.uk