Four girls ‘dine and sprint’ after racking up £174 invoice as CCTV pictures launched

A brazen group of four allegedly racked up an epic £174 for munch and drinks at a North Yorkshire cafe and then scarpered without coughing up the cash.

North Yorkshire Police are on the hunt and keen to have a chinwag with four women after they did a runner from the Lookout on the Pier Cafe in Scarborough leaving behind an unpaid bill on September 15.

The coppers took to their X/Twitter yesterday (October 16), sharing snaps of the suspected dine-and-dashers and are now calling on the public to help them out by naming names. The photos show the women dotted around the restaurant.

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“If you recognise any of the women pictured, please get in touch as we believe they will have information that will assist our investigation,” said a spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police, reports the Mirror.

Anyone with information has been asked to email [email protected] or calling the police on 1010, selecting option 2 and asking for 1222PC David Fulford, collar number 1222. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via their website and quote reference 12240170632 when passing on information.

Reviewers on Tripadvisor have given the joint a whopper 4.5 stars out of 5 after more than 500 reviews. Lookout On the Pier’s got the good rep for its cracking fresh seafood and folk reckon it offers top value for dosh and service to boot.

This recent dine and dash episode further underscores the predicament of restaurant owners and staff who are left with unpaid bills by customers.

This year has seen dozens of dine and dash stories. In May, Bernard McDonagh and his wife Ann, notorious dine and dashers, were sentenced to 20 months in prison after failing to pay a combined £1,000 during a series of dining scams.

A video of Bernard, Ann and other family members went viral after the group of eight exited the Bella Ciao Italian restaurant in Swansea without settling a £329 bill. The family indulged in expensive T-bone steaks and downed 15 bottles of pop before fleeing without paying.

The incident caused outrage online, with the video quickly amassing over 12 million views in just a few hours. The widespread circulation of the incident prompted other restaurants in Wales to disclose they had also been victims of the couple’s scam.

A family-run eatery in St Leonards, East Sussex, reckons they’ve been done out of over a grand thanks to serial dine and dashers.

Top cop at Sussex Police, Chief Inspector Jay Mendis-Gunaskera, said back in July: “We’re really proactive with our business crime teams. We work with local businesses to support our communities and try to bring the offenders of these types of crimes to justice.”

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