Shocking CCTV footage shows the moment an alleged ‘dine and dasher’ calmly puts on his jacket before fleeing a restaurant through a fire exit after scoffing a huge Mexican feast.
Restaurant bosses claim the man enjoyed a £26 meal and drink before asking waiting staff where the toilet was after munching through chicken, nachos and downing several margarita cocktails.
He then fled Dorindo’s Mexican restaurant in Abingdon, Oxford, out the back through a fire escape.
It is the latest case of the shameless culinary trend gripping Britain that has seen independent business owners cheated out of hundreds of pounds and the most serial offenders given jail time.
Now, the owners of Dorindo’s have shared footage of the man with Mail Online, who they have branded ‘totally selfish’ and a ‘fool’.
HERO RAW VIDEO 3291557 Moment Dine and Dasher escapes Mexican restaurant by the fire exit
Shocking CCTV footage shows the moment an alleged ‘dine and dasher’ flees a Mexican restaurant
After scoffing a £26 meal, the man is seen calmly putting on his jacket
He then asked staff where the toilet was before leaving via the fire exit
Owner Teodora Atanasov said: ‘It’s incredibly cheeky.
‘If he had told us he could not afford his meal, we’d have let him pay another time.
‘There’s no need to do a runner and take the Mick out of us.
‘It’s totally selfish. The man is a fool. There’s no need.
‘We all work really hard and then things like this happen.
‘He had a great time by the looks of it. He was jolly.
‘He asked a staff member where the toilets were and then we never saw him again.
‘When you go past the toilets, there’s the fire exit and you can get out.
‘He seemed to know where he was going and what he was doing.’
Another CCTV still shows him at the bar ordering drinks.
And other footage shows him eating his meal and then walking towards the toilet.
Teodora added: ‘It’s really annoying.
‘We have never had problems like this before. We have learned our lesson now.
‘We do not want to be suspicious of diners though. We want people to enjoy themselves and we love what we do.
‘I have no idea why this seems to keep happening across the country.
‘As an industry, we’re up against it at the best of times and now this just makes it worse.’
Staff also published the photo of the man, who may be called Seb, on Facebook.
A statement issued by the eatery on October 10 said: ‘Please be aware this guy came tonight to eat at Dorindo’s.
‘He asked for the toilet after he finished his meal and ran without paying from the back door so be careful.’
One person commented that the same man had been ‘looking shady’ at The Boundary House pub in the town and had been asked to leave.
Restaurant staff have described the man as a selfish fool for his actions
Thames Valley Police were approached for comment.
Sadly instances like this are becoming far too common.
Last month, a brazen family allegedly walked out of two country pubs without paying for over £300 of food.
The group — a couple with several children — reportedly first struck at the George Inn in Chideock, Dorset, on August 26, before heading to The Ollerod nine miles away in Beaminster on August 29.
At The George, they ordered burgers, fish and chips and puddings and drank four pints of Guinness and soft drinks, racking up a £113 bill.
At the end of the meal a man allegedly went outside to ‘take a phone call’ leaving the woman to pay. But she apparently told staff she had to get a credit card from her partner and left with her two children and a baby.
She was reportedly seen putting the children in the car before they drove off.
A family has been accused of racking up a £300 bill at two different pubs and taking off – including The Ollerod
Three days later the same family, joined by a third male adult and a teenage girl, visited The Ollerod.
They allegedly ordered steak meals, cocktails and wine worth £193.
The family split up after they were asked to pay the bill and the woman allegedly pretended to go and get a payment card from their car only to drive off.
There is CCTV footage of both incidents, with the main couple described as white and aged in their late 30s.
The dark haired man has a beard and tattoos on both arms. He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and a black baseball cap during the second scam. The woman has long dark hair and was wearing a light blue top.
They were driving a black Vauxhall Zafira people carrier.
Jamie Smith, the owner of The George Inn, claimed: ‘They came in about 5pm on August 26 when the pub was quieter.
‘The kids were fairly unruly and were running riot.
‘They were fairly crafty when it came to paying the bill. The man had had four pints of Guinness and went out to the car to take a phone call.
‘The woman tried to sort out the kids and the newborn.
‘She went out to get her husband but she jumped in the car with the kids and they drove off. I don’t think the baby was even in its seat.
‘They had booked a table about an hour before they arrived so we had some contact details but unsurprisingly they did not reply.’
The second incident happened August 29 at The Ollerod.
Silvana Bandini, owner of The Ollerod, claimed: ‘I wasn’t working and we had quite a junior team on but the seven of them came in around 5:30pm on Thursday.
‘It was fairly quiet at that time but they came in for dinner. They weren’t angry, their children were a bit rowdy.
‘At the end of the meal the two men went out to the car park with the children and said that the woman, who had gone to the back for a cigarette would pay the bill.
‘We kept an eye on her and approached her when she came back in. She said that she was going to the car to get her card.
‘Our team was fairly inexperienced and let her go to car which she got in and they drove off. I probably would’ve escorted her back to the car.
‘They hadn’t had too much to drink. They had one cocktail, a glass of wine and a spritzer, as well as a few steaks. The billed totalled £192
‘It obviously could’ve been worse. They could’ve had three of my finest bottles of wine and some lobsters.
‘I would say that they are not our usual clientele but don’t want to judge people before they come in. We had never had anything like this in the six years I have been here.’
The total bill for the two meals was £305.
The party arrived at Indian restaurant Tamarind Bay in Exeter in a Land rover and a series of vans before fleeing without paying towards the city centre
A group of 20 enjoyed a large meal of curries, naans and chips before walking out without settling the £270 bill. Pictured: the food they left behind
In April, a gang of 20 were accused of a ‘dine and dash’ after enjoying a slap-up restaurant meal and then fleeing without paying.
The mass theft at Exeter’s Tamarind Bay restaurant left the distraught owners £270 out of pocket.
The party, which included adults and children, arrived at the restaurant in a Land Rover and vans at 7pm on Tuesday.
Pictures showed how they gorged themselves on curry, chips and naan bread with chutneys.
The huge group then washed their meal down with dozens of drinks including Cobra beer and several bottles of Coca Cola and Fanta.
Do you know the dine-and-dashers? Email john.james@mailonline.co.uk
One family of three, which included a baby, paid their bill of £52 but the others in the party left without paying.
Manager Saiful Rahman said he had seen many ‘dine and dash’ incidents in his 17 years running restaurants, but said this one ‘takes the biscuit’.
He said: ‘We have never experienced a mass exodus. It was actually shocking.
‘I have experience with travellers and I could tell they were from their vehicles, their accents, the way they spoke and how they acted.
‘We served them because we don’t discriminate.
‘We didn’t ask for an upfront payment as from experience this would have caused a fuss with them saying we are discriminating against them when other groups of people aren’t asked to.’
The group also got through dozens of drinks including beers and Coca Cola, pictured above
He said that one man with his family of four, including two children, suddenly got up saying he was going to buy a birthday cake form the table next to them from the Tesco across the road.
Waiters realised the excuse was part of the scam after they were followed by two other tables in the group.
In an attempt to stop the cheapskates from running off without paying, waiters tried to chase them down as they got into their vehicles and drove off towards Exeter city centre.
The families ignored requests for payments, leaving behind a huge mess when they brazenly walked out of the restaurant.
