Restaurant Ciao Eatalia in Wiltshire has fallen victim to multiple dine and dash incidents, with one customer recently threatening to “smash” the owner’s head through a wall
A customer threatened to “smash” an Italian restaurant owner’s head before a party of nine – including multiple families – walked out without paying for £180 worth of food.
Fabio Giacalone, chef and co-owner of Ciao Eatalia, in Highworth, near Swindon, claimed the incident was the fifth dine and dash incident at the restaurant this year. He added it was having a “terrible” impact on his business.
Wiltshire Police shared several pictures of people they want to speak to in connection with the dine and dash at the Ciao Eatalia restaurant. “On April 20, a group of people left a restaurant after only paying £100 of a £181 bill,” the force revealed.
Giacalone told the BBC the “aggressive group” had racked up a “massive” bill – mostly made up of alcohol orders. While they paid part of the bill, they fled with most of it outstanding.
“We had a table of nine coming in – everything seemed alright until the very end,” Giacalone told the BBC. “When they were about to pay, they refused to pay the whole bill.” One of the customers then reportedly “threatened to smash” the owner’s face through a wall.
“I was really worried, so I called the police,” he said. “Unfortunately they didn’t arrive in time. The impact was terrible – we had a massive loss of money and the experience was terrible.”
Night Time Industry Association chief executive Michael Kill told the network instances of dine and dashing have risen in the UK due to more people “getting away with it.”
He added policing of the crime is time-consuming, which in turn makes prosecutions very difficult. The rise in cases has led some restaurants to move toward a pay-first approach.
“Many businesses are operating on a knife-edge at the moment,” Kill told the BBC. “Any lost revenue in terms of food, or in terms of service, is going to impact heavily.”
Anyone with any information about this dine and dash incident has been asked to call 101 quoting 54240045171.
The Mirror has contacted Wiltshire Police and Ciao Eatalia for comment.
The Mirror has reported on numerous dine and dash cases across the UK. Yesterday, couple Ann and Bernard McDonagh pleaded guilty to a string of offences where they left bills worth hundreds of pounds unpaid across the south of Wales.
