22 April 2024 , 15:50
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An Italian restaurant in Wales has accused a family of eight of walking out without paying for their £329 bill – and claim it is not the first time the family have done a dine and dash.
Bella Ciao Italian restaurant in Port Talbot, Wales, said the diners ordered expensive steaks, 15 drinks and multiple desserts.
The mother in the group was initially seen on CCTV trying to pay with a savings account card, which was declined twice.
She then told staff her son would wait inside while she ‘got her other card’, but did not return – then the boy disappeared as well.
The family-owned business had no way to contact the family, who had used a fake number to make their booking.
Manager Tyrone Reese posted CCTV footage to social media this weekend in an attempt to identify the culprits.
The woman made a young boy wait by the counter, before he disappeared too (Picture: Bella Ciao)
Other restaurants called Mr Reese after hearing about the incident and said they had similar issues with a family who left without paying.
Mr Reese has said he is disappointed in the lack of urgency from police regarding the unpaid £329 bill.
South Wales Police told Metro.co.uk: ‘South Wales Police was called just before 9.40pm on April, Friday 19, with a report of making off without payment from a business premises on Castle Street, Swansea.
‘Investigations are ongoing to establish the full circumstances behind the incident and to identify those involved.’
The group in question has allegedly dashed on at least seven restaurants within a 30-mile radius before disappearing without settling their big bills.
Four restaurants have gone public with their warning about the family with police believed to have been alerted by at least seven.
Two members of the group were spotted at other restaurants doing the same thing (Picture: Wales News Service)
The woman has allegedly been seen dining and dashing before (Picture: Wales News Service)
The latest was at newly-opened restaurant Bella Ciao in Port Talbot with a £329 bill – and they have done the same at other restaurants in South Wales.
Other targeted restaurants including the Yard in Cowbridge, River House in Swansea and La Casone in Skewen have gone public with appeals for restaurants to beware.
La Casona in Skewen, over six miles from Swansea, is one of the many restaurants that claim the group also targeted them in February and left without paying a bill that was almost £300.
The Mediterranean restaurant said: ‘After the meal, four people have already left our restaurant. One lady stayed with a young boy to “pay”. The woman tried to pay with a card which was declined.
‘She left, and 10 seconds after, the boy started to run to the car. We called the police as soon as it happened.’
The Yard in Cowbridge says that a similar incident also happened there in March with a bill for £151 going unpaid.
Last summer, the River House Lounge & Restaurant in Swansea also posted CCTV images of the same family members to its social media page after they had run up a ‘hefty bill’ and did the same dine and dash act.
The family could face up to two years prison for theft from the series of rogue restaurant eat-outs so far over the last eight months.
The group is led by a middle-aged couple who even took a toddler in a baby chair on the latest runner.