Two arrested over ‘dine-and-dash spree across seven restaurants’
Two people have been arrested after alleged dine-and-dash incidents in Wales.
It comes after reports of several alleged incidents of diners leaving without paying their restaurant bills and shoplifting in Port Talbot, Wales.
Now a 41-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman, both from Sandfields, Port Talbot, have been arrested for fraud (obtaining services dishonestly) and theft offences.
They are currently in custody at Swansea Central police station.
An investigation continues, South Wales Police said.
The update comes after seven restaurants in South Wales claimed similar incidents in the past year, including an Italian restaurant Bella Ciao.
The newly opened restaurant in Port Talbot claimed diners left before paying a £329 bill.
At least seven restaurants claimed a couple visited them for dinner, ordering expensive items but leaving before settling their bill.
The couple allegedly racked up a £151 bill at The Yard Pizzeria in Cowbridge after they had a feast at the eatery, including mains and two bottles of fizzy drinks each, according to MailOnline.
After the dinner, a woman came up to the counter and attempted to pay, but her card was declined twice.
She asked staff for the nearest cashpoint but allegedly disappeared.
Emily Langford, manager at the family-run eatery, told the outlet: ‘She was basically buttering me and my mum up and was saying lots of nice things to us. But as she put her card in it got declined. She was like ‘oh that’s weird’ and it declined again.
‘She said she would call her son and sort out a bank transfer, but we weren’t comfortable with that and asked if she could pay in cash and showed her where the nearest cash point was.
‘I showed her where it was and as I turned my head back through the door to tell my mum she was at the cash point, by the time I turned around again she was gone.’
The latest restaurant to claim the couple visited them is Bella Ciao.
CCTV footage appears to show the woman attempt to pay the bill with a savings account card which was also declined twice.
She then allegedly told staff her son would wait inside while she would fetch her ‘other card’.
But she never returned to pay up the £329 bill and the boy also disappeared shortly after.
Tyrone Reese, manager of Bella Ciao, said he was disappointed with the attempts to catch the suspects.
He told MailOnline: ‘I’m paying my tax for police but I seem to be powerless. It annoys me to know this is happening and that they are getting away with it.’
The family-owned restaurant had no way to contact the diners as they had used a fake number to make the booking.
River House restaurant in Swansea claimed a couple used a similar tactic with them in August last year after building up a huge bill.
The restaurant posted an appeal on social media, asking followers to share a CCTV image of a man and a woman.
The Somerset Arms in Port Talbot, The Longbow Beefeater in Pontyclun, the Chilli Too Indian restaurant in Clydach and La Casona in Skewen also believe they have been targeted by the brazen couple.
La Casona claimed the couple left a young boy with a woman to pay the bill costing almost £300.
The woman, captured on CCTV, told staff she needs to get her other card after the one she used was declined, according to MailOnline.
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