Two women who “ran away without paying” for a £56 gastropub meal with their children said they were forced to leave due to a “personal emergency”.
The couple were named and shamed in a Facebook post by landlady Lisa McMaster, who shared CCTV footage of the two leaving their pub, the Smithy Arms in Swinton, North Yorkshire.
In the post, Ms McMaster claimed the women told staff they would pay for their meal at the bar after their meal.
But on a busy night, no one noticed the pair sneaking out of the pub until they were spotted running across the car park.
Their distinctive white car, with a pink roof, was seen pulling away from its parking space and disappearing down the road. They were given a limited time to pay back their meals.
Mrs McMaster wrote: ‘How nice of you to come eat and drink and run without paying. Stay in a camp nearby.
But the duo have now been identified as couple Ruby McGrath, 32, and Suzy Hopley, 33, who came online to defend their actions and assure people their bill has now been settled.
Photos of the two women were shared on social media by the pub owner in an attempt to track them down.
The two women ate at the Smithy Arms in Swinton, North Yorkshire.
The couple say the “personal matter” between them and the pub has been blown out of proportion.
Ms McGrath, who runs the popular fashion label FrankandOlive, says the incident has been “blown out of proportion” and that what followed the social media post was a “shameful homophobic witch hunt”.
On Instagram, a since-deleted post reads: “Usually I’d ignore ridiculous hate online but this involves my kids too so I’m just popping in to say we had a lovely meal last night and experienced brilliant service at The Smithy”. Arms in Swinton but sadly our visit was cut short and we had to run (poor Frank couldn’t even eat his ice cream) due to a personal emergency.
‘Our plan was to call the pub as soon as possible to let them know of the situation and then rush to pay our bill.
‘While camping we realized once we got back that we had zero b***** reception and had to wait until this morning to contact the pub and pay our bill.
Anyway, long story short, all is well, the bill and the generous tip have been paid. No hard feelings between me and the lovely folks at The Smithy Arms, but the internet has gone crazy.
Photos of the two women were shared on social media by the pub owner in an attempt to track them down.
Their distinctive white car, with a pink roof, was seen pulling away from its parking space and disappearing down the road.
“A misunderstanding blown wildly out of proportion, followed by a shameful homophobic witch hunt.” Beware of the power of social media’.
Speaking to MailOnline, Ms McGrath said: “What was a personal matter has become out of all proportion to what it was.”
“We had eaten and was waiting to pay the bill when we had a medical problem in our group and it became urgent for us to leave. My wife was in the car waiting and I just had to get out as fast as possible.
I rang the pub that night but couldn’t find anyone and then when we got to the camp where we had stayed I couldn’t get any signal.
“Today I have contacted the owner and explained our situation and that we will pay the bill in full.
“Finding ourselves in the middle of this has not been pleasant for us and we did not intend to cause this situation.”
Frank and Olive’s Facebook page has also been inundated with comments from users urging them to return to the pub to pay their tab.
One comment says: ‘Pay your bill!’
Another says: ‘Shame Ruby. The pub they both left without paying the bill has all their details. Go pay them… we are all struggling. This is the worst.
Instagram business accounts appear to have been removed and their website is currently down. However, her TikTok account is still active.
The latest Home Office figures from ‘dine and dash’ reveal that the Metropolitan Police recorded 12,610 incidents without paying offences, in 2018.
