A gang of 20 have been charged with “dine and run” after enjoying a great meal at a restaurant and then fleeing without paying.
The mass robbery at Exeter’s Tamarind Bay restaurant left the distraught owners £270 out of pocket.
The group, which included adults and children, arrived at the restaurant in a Land Rover and vans at 7pm on Tuesday.
Footage showed them gorging themselves on curries, chips and naan bread with chutneys.
The huge group then washed down their meal with dozens of drinks, including Cobra beer and several bottles of Coca Cola and Fanta.
A group of 20 people enjoyed a large meal of curry, naans and chips before leaving without paying the £270 bill. In the photo: the food they left
The group also drank dozens of drinks, including beers and Coca Cola, as shown in the photo above.
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A family of three, including a baby, paid the £52 bill, but the other members of the group left without paying.
Manager Saiful Rahman said he had seen many “dine-and-run” incidents in his 17 years running restaurants, but said this one “takes the cake.”
He said: ‘We have never experienced a mass exodus. It was really shocking.
‘I have experience with travelers and I realized that they were travelers because of their vehicles, their accent, their way of speaking and acting.
‘We serve them because we do not discriminate.
“We didn’t ask for an upfront payment because from experience this would have caused an uproar and they would say we are discriminating against them when other groups of people are not asked to do so.”
He said a man with his family of four, including two children, suddenly got up saying he was going to buy a birthday cake from the next table at the Tesco across the road.
The waiters realized the excuse was part of the scam after they were followed by two other tables in the group.
In a bid to stop the cheapskates escaping without paying, waiters attempted to chase them as they got into their vehicles and headed towards Exeter city centre.
The families ignored requests for payment, leaving a huge mess as they brazenly left the restaurant.
The group arrived at the Tamarind Bay Indian restaurant in Exeter in a Land Rover and a series of vans before fleeing into the city center without paying.
Rahman said he had reported the incident to the police, but was told that once the diners had left, it was not considered an emergency.
He said: ‘I couldn’t believe the sheer audacity. He seemed very well built and we had to clean up the mess they left. “What happened is a big problem because bars, restaurants and cages are struggling, so I want some justice.”
But Rahman is not alone in his frustration and this incident is just the latest case in an epidemic of dinner parties and courtships.
Last week, an Italian restaurant was left empty-handed after a family “dined and ran” after racking up a £329 bill.
The family of eight racked up an unpaid bill of £329 when they sat down at Bella Ciao Italian restaurant in Port Talbot, west of Swansea, on Friday night.
Staff at Bella Ciao Italian restaurant in Port Talbot, just west of Swansea, say the family of eight left the establishment without paying for their expensive meal on Friday night.
Diners ordered expensive steaks, double desserts and 15 bottles of soda, but began returning several half-empty plates, which surprised staff members.
Some people have taken matters into their own hands when emboldened thieves refuse to pay restaurant bills.
Frustrated by a couple suspected of serial ‘eating and dashing’ who have been hunted for a series of ‘food thefts’ at struggling restaurants, a masked gang smashed their windows, MailOnline can reveal.
AUGUST 2023: The couple at the River House Lounge & Restaurant in Swansea
The boarded up windows of the Port Talbot house where a masked gang attacked, smashing the suspected thieves’ windows.
The Somerset Arms in Port Talbot, the Longbow Beefeater in Pontyclun, Chilli Too Indian restaurant in Clydach, La Casona in Skewen, the Riverhouse Lounge and Restaurant in Swansea and The Yard in Cowbridge believe they are all victims of ‘dine and dashers’ . ‘
Police launched an investigation after a gang of men in black balaclavas smashed the front windows of a three-bedroom house in Port Talbot, south Wales.
The owners are believed to have escaped without paying the bill from at least seven restaurants.
Restaurants have claimed that a couple allegedly behind an “eat and run” scandal order expensive menu items, usually steaks, before fleeing and leaving the bill unpaid.
South Wales Police said they arrested two suspects, aged 41 and 39, for fraud and theft offences. They have been taken for questioning at Swansea Police Station.
Earlier this month, six women brazenly walked out of a pub in Worcester without paying their £140 bill.
The gang of women stuffed their faces with food and drink on Saturday, March 23 as they enjoyed a barbecue at the Wheelbarrow Castle pub.
Footage from the pub’s security camera shows the tracksuit-clad women passing the bar with one pushing a stroller.
A woman (pictured on the far right) from a group who dined and ran can be heard complimenting the waitress on the “to die for” prawns.
The group racked up a huge bill, including six portions of roast beef and five portions of children’s bolognese.
The Bella Vista in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex. The owner said she found vomit on the pavement outside after the family left.
One of the women even takes the time to get up and pick her nose while waiting for her friends to leave without paying.
While the group of six women left a bill of £140, a different group of women dined and ran off leaving a staggering £425 bill.
The “despicable group” of four women and eight children were caught ordering food and drink worth hundreds of pounds at the La Bella Vista restaurant in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, for which they never paid.
The group ordered six portions of roast beef and five portions of children’s bolognese, before one of the women complimented the waitress on the restaurant’s prawns, saying they were “to die for.”
Deborah Esposito, co-owner of La Bella Vista, said she later found vomit on the sidewalk outside the restaurant.