'Dine And Dash' Gang Flees Indian Eatery In UK Without Paying Rs 23,000 Bill

A family-run Indian restaurant in the UK is grappling with financial loss after a group of six diners fled without paying a Rs 23,000 (200 pound) bill. Raman Kaur and Narinder Singh Athwa, who run the family-owned eatery, shared their heartbreak on social media after two families allegedly fled without paying for a lavish Saturday night meal on August 30.

The group, consisting of four adults and four children, booked a table just 15 minutes in advance but arrived with double the expected number. They indulged in a feast of curries, sides, and children's meals, enjoying the vibrant atmosphere of the award-winning venue. As the evening wound down, the women and children slipped out, leaving the two men to attempt payment. Despite trying five cards and making calls for transfers, they claimed to have "no way of paying," provided no ID, and left with a promise to settle by Monday, September 1. No payment has been made since.

The incident has now prompted the owners to consider releasing CCTV footage and involving the police. 

"We hate to do this, but it's our only option at this point. Unfortunately, on Saturday night we had a table of 2 families, who, after eating, drinking & enjoying themselve,s tried 5 different cards, calling various people to transfer money paid £0 off a £200 bill!! Now we don't want to start discriminating, as we have families from the same community who come in regularly, and we've never had a problem. These were new visitors, rang up to book, 4 adults + 4 children. Apart from the normal ruckus that infants can cause, wanting to run around, we had no trouble from any of them," the restaurant's Facebook post read.

"As a local family-run business and an independent, these times are REALLY tough at the moment, and them not paying a 200-pound bill has a HUGE knock on effect for our restaurant, we can't afford this occurrence once, let alone a repeat performance. What can we do? And thank you to a few tables who did see the situation and shared their kind words with us. We hope you understand this was our only option to highlight this incident. That 200-pound bill would pay staff, or pay our bills, or for stock," the post added. 

The post has garnered widespread support, with customers vowing to boost bookings. One user wrote, 'Absolutely disgusting that they would do this, especially as they obviously knew they would not be paying. Personally, I would have called the police, but now the very least, I would share the pictures of them. As a regular in your restaurant, I know how hard you all work, and as you say, £200 is no small amount to lose."

Another commented, "It's theft, report it to the police and give them the footage from your cameras." A third user added, "I hope they pay, I'm sorry for this to have happened to your restaurant. It's not only financially damaging, but it's really disheartening that people would do such a thing to a hard-working team."

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