The diabolical rise of ‘dine and dash’: ‘It feels like a betrayal’

You know the drill: you scrape the remaining crumbs of your dessert from the plate, finish off the last of the bottle of wine, settle the bill and leave the restaurant, full and content. While it’s certainly possible to forget to pay, for a small number of diners, this “mistake” is deliberate: they never intended to pay at all.

This summer, a couple from Port Talbot in south Wales were jailed for carrying out a series of so-called “dine and dash” offences: racking up sizeable restaurant bills before doing a runner. Ann McDonagh was sentenced to 12 months in prison, while her husband, Bernard McDonagh, was given eight months. A judge at Swansea crown court deemed the pair to have “cynically and brazenly” defrauded restaurants by paying with a “dud” card, leaving ostensibly to get cash, then failing to return. But what are the consequences for restaurants – and is “dine and dash” on the rise?

“It’s happened to us three times in about three months,” says Aldo Esposito, the owner of La Bella Vista, an Italian restaurant in St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex. On each occasion, Esposito says, the perpetrators used a different approach. The first incident involved a table of four on a very busy night. The diners were asked when ordering their food if they had any allergies, but later claimed they had not understood that their meal would include an ingredient to which one of the party was badly allergic. They told the staff they had to rush to hospital. “They said: ‘We’re not paying for this, because our lives are at risk,’ and I couldn’t do anything; I had a full restaurant.” The £200 bill was never paid.

This was followed by an incident involving a large group of diners: eight children, four adults – and more than £400 worth of food. Esposito believes the group planted an item in their food; he says no one in the kitchen would use the object in question. Nonetheless, when the group complained, Esposito offered to give them the dish for free. “They said: ‘No, we won’t pay for anything,’” and then left the restaurant. “We called the police, but they were unable to help us. They said it was a civil matter – but it’s not, it’s a criminal matter.”

The third incident is what you might call a true “dine and dash”: three women in the restaurant’s outdoor area racked up a £300 bill, mostly on drinks, before simply running off without paying. Again, Esposito says the police were unable to help. “They said we could have taken the larger group to court, but that it would be a lot of hassle,” he says.

In 2018, a survey found that one in 20 people had walked out without paying for a meal. According to Donna Jones, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, “dine and dash” incidences are shooting up. The cost of living emergency is hitting many households and shoplifting in England and Wales is at a 20-year high, with reported incidents in 2023 up by more than a third on 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics. It has been suggested that doing a runner in a restaurant is merely an extension of this, but Jones told the MailOnline that she doesn’t believe these are “typical thieves”. “They’re driving away in their own cars,” she said, before urging businesses to “share images online … and to name and shame those individuals”.

A police spokesperson said that publicly sharing images of suspected offenders does not necessarily help the criminal justice process and that if a restaurant owner shared the details of someone who hadn’t done anything wrong, they would have to deal with the fallout. The spokesperson encouraged business owners to contact the police whenever these offences occur and present any evidence.

Kate Nicholls, the CEO of the trade body UKHospitality, says the number of incidents remains small. “But it is a serious matter for the businesses affected,” she adds. “These businesses operate on very tight net-profit margins – less than 4% – and often it can be quite big-spend items that people are going for.” The McDonaghs, for example, ordered T-bone steaks and double desserts as part of their scam. “The cashflow impact is not something that can be reclaimed,” says Nicholls. “It’s not like an insurance loss – but it can have a very real impact.”

Nicholls objects to the term “dine and dash”, which she feels underplays the gravity of the situation. “It implies that it’s a bit of fun,” she says. “Let’s call it what it is: this is theft and fraud and it should be prosecuted as such. It’s not a victimless crime. It is money that is being taken from a business for goods and services consumed – it’s exactly the same as shoplifting.”

The website police.uk offers tips to business owners to help them “deter these restaurant thieves”. Suggestions include installing CCTV inside and outside the premises, greeting every customer – “thereby ‘registering’ their faces” – and considering the exit points from a security perspective. They also encourage the collection of phone numbers and credit card details from customers when booking. In the event of an incident, they advise calling the police as quickly as possible: “We do not recommend taking matters into your own hands.”

Although there may be parallels with the rise in shoplifting, Geoff Beattie, a professor of psychology at Edge Hill University in Lancashire and the author of Lies, Lying and Liars, says there are also some important differences, especially when it comes to motive. “It has that interpersonal element to it – the waiter serving you and smiling and hoping for a tip,” he says. “You’re thinking: ‘Not only are you not getting a tip, you’re not even getting paid!’ You’re seeing the people you’re duping and they’re falling for it. It’s more like being a conman.”

While the cost of living crisis is the driving force behind the UK’s shoplifting epidemic, Beattie agrees with Jones that this is less likely to be the case when it comes to “dine and dash”. “I suspect it’s not got much to do with struggling to get by – it’s not like stealing a tin of beans from the supermarket. It tends to be more expensive items, so you have to look at the deeper undercurrents of what’s going on,” he says. When people feel looked down upon or discriminated against, he says, this can prompt feelings of frustration and “a desire to kick back” – even if this retaliation isn’t aimed at those responsible.

Some people may think they are able to justify their actions morally. “It may be reasoning that restaurants make so much profit that they won’t miss a few pounds, or: ‘They charge too much anyway, they’re ripping me off, I’m just reciprocating,’” he says. Others, says Beattie, may put the emphasis on those they are close to: “‘OK, the waiter might get into a bit of trouble, but hey, I’m treating my family.’” Or they may view it as a minor indiscretion in the scheme of things: “‘Hey, you think this is bad? Look at politicians! They’re always cheating and stealing! This is nothing in comparison.’”

Beattie refers to the “dark triad” of personality traits – non‑clinical psychopathy, narcissism and machiavellianism – that he believes operates in many “dine and dash” cases. “They all work together,” he says. “Psychopaths don’t really care about other people’s feelings or empathise with them; machiavellians will do whatever they have to do to get their ends; and narcissists like to be the centre of attention and get affirmation all the time.”

It’s easy to see why harbouring such traits may make it easier to leave without picking up the bill. People with the “dark triad” don’t tend to experience the emotions that most of us would feel when cheating a restaurant, such as shame, guilt, anxiety and the fear of being caught. Instead, they get a pleasure from it known as “duping delight”, which is amplified by being in face-to-face contact with the person they are deceiving.

This is one reason why Beattie is not convinced that “dine and dash” is a new phenomenon, something with which Nicholls concurs. It may also be why it’s not always expensive foodstuffs or establishments that are targeted.

Regardless, the repercussions for businesses go far beyond the financial. Earlier this month, staff at Puldagon farm shop and restaurant, near John o’Groats in Caithness, were dismayed when a group of four left without paying, having asked if they could look around the shop downstairs before settling up. They left their table in the restaurant, but never returned to pay. The business posted about the incident online, “hoping that they might see it and give us a call”, explains the manager, who didn’t want to be named. “I thought it might jog somebody’s memory. But they’ve not been in touch, which is making me think that they may have done it on purpose.”

This group didn’t order high-value items, or far more than they could eat. “They ordered coffees and cakes, so it wasn’t a massive amount of money; it was more the principle,” says the manager. “Times are quite tough and that’s a few hours’ wages for somebody. Up here, we’re quite trusting. Everyone knows each other and we’re maybe a bit lax on security. We kind of assume everyone is honest and has a bit of a conscience. Maybe that’s not always the case.” Commenters on Puldagon’s Facebook post were more sceptical. The manager admits that they will “definitely be slightly more suspicious of people” in future.

At La Bella Vista, too, Esposito has changed his approach – and upgraded the CCTV system. “I’ve built my business on relationships with the customers, and customer care, and it’s making me change my personality,” he says. “I feel like I am more guarded. It’s quite demoralising.”

Nicholls says: “Psychologically, for the staff, it feels like a betrayal. Hospitality is all about the people and the experience – it seldom happens at places that are self-service – so when people leave without paying, staff take it personally.”

She advises restaurants to be vigilant. Often, customers don’t simply abandon their desserts and digestifs to sprint away from the restaurant. They may step outside under the pretence of smoking, or leave with the promise of returning to pay. Increasingly, restaurants are taking card details – even from walk-in diners – or asking large groups to pay upfront, but such measures can feel unwelcoming or inconvenient.

“It’s all about having a good customer experience,” says Nicholls. “We don’t want the bad 1% to get in the way of that for the 99% who are not trying to commit fraud.”