Shameless moment 20 diners leave restaurant WITHOUT paying £700 bill – as CCTV reveals suspects & cops launch hunt
THIS is the shameless moment a group of 20 diners left a restaurant without paying a £700 bill, the manager claims.
Amir Jamali, who runs Turkuaz in Crawley, West Sussex, alleges the large group, including 15 children, ate huge amounts of food on a Saturday evening before fleeing.
CCTV footage shows the clan gathering outside the front of the Mediterranean restaurant on the town’s High Street, at just after 8.10pm and then apparently filing away.
Mr Jamali told The Sun the venue was “really busy” at the time and claimed: “They were even joking about not paying and going out and coming back in.
“What made me sad was they brought 15 kids with them.”
He said the group had phoned up to book their tables, before arriving half an hour later.
Mr Jamali claims after finishing their mounds of food, they began acting suspiciously, and appeared to be waiting for their moment to slip away.
“They kept going out for cigarettes and coming back in again,” he continued.
“One of the women said they would be coming back in and we forgot about them for a few minutes. Then we realised they had run away.”
Mr Jamali claims: “They were waiting and watching us to see the right time when we were busiest.
“One of them paid a really small amount in cash to gain our trust.”
The alleged incident occurred on January 18 – and Mr Jamali said he tried for several days after to persuade the person who made the phone booking to return and pay up.
“I phoned them to ask for payment,” he explained, but alleges the man denied ever being at the restaurant.
“They said they were at home and had not been to the restaurant,” he said. “When I told them we had CCTV and could clearly see their faces, they said they just weren’t going to pay.”
Days later Mr Jamali tried again and said they repeated that they would not hand over any cash, and so he reported them to police.
However, he said cops have not come back to him with any updates since.
“They knew they were going to run away. They ate about £700-worth of food,” he continued.
“They booked half an hour before turning up. They just ate and ate.”
Sussex Police said: “On January 21, police received a report of a restaurant bill not being paid in full at a premises in Crawley High Street.
“It related to a bill from diners at the restaurant on January 18.
“Anyone with information can report it to Sussex Police online, quoting serial 302 of 21/01.”
Do you know more? Email ryan.merrifield@thesun.co.uk