Dine and dash: Almost a third say incidents of customers leaving restaurants without paying has gone up

National World - LocalTV

UKHospitality has found a third of operators have recently experienced an incident of ‘dine and dash’, with those affected reporting an increase in incidents since last year.

Transcript

00:00Well, let's call it what it is. It's theft. And to be honest, depending upon the venue

00:08that you're talking about, it could be from a budget mail, but it could be for a fine

00:12dining venue. But the impact on both is pretty much similar because they offer, the price

00:20reflects the offer. So it's really a very disconcerting trend to be watching, not least

00:30because of course it impacts upon hardworking staff at restaurants and who do their best

00:36to provide good service, good food, good experiences.

00:39Latest UK hospitality figures found a third of operators have recently experienced an

00:45incident of dine and dash. Of those affected, 29% say the frequency of incidents

00:50has increased compared to the previous year.

00:53If you see someone and you're working and you know that the unpaid bill might affect,

00:59well certainly would affect a tip because you're not going to get one, but also the

01:03income of the venue more widely, then you're going to feel that you need to interject,

01:09but that's a potentially dangerous situation. So it's very important, especially at a time

01:15when venues are really struggling to fill vacancies. We want people to be able to work

01:23and enjoy their work safely.

01:25Do you think that current laws and penalties are sufficient to deter people from doing

01:29this or is there a need for that to be stepped up for stronger legal protections for businesses?

01:35I'm not sure that the laws that are in place can necessarily be improved. I think what

01:40needs to be done is for people to know that there is an uptick in prosecutions in this.

01:46That would be the best deterrent. As for the laws in place, I'm not really sure that you

01:54can do much more than there is already. So it's a matter of acting upon those laws rather

01:58than changing them.

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