A restaurant has publicly called out two diners who allegedly staged a scene to avoid paying a £165 bill by seemingly planting their own hair in their meals. The incident took place at The Dial restaurant in Burton-upon-Trent, where staff were taken aback by the duo’s claims of hair-contaminated food.
The day after the incident, the restaurant reviewed CCTV footage and discovered that the diners had orchestrated the situation. General Manager Jez Hives observed one of the men, dressed in a yellow t-shirt and dark jacket, pulling hairs from his head and discreetly placing them on his plate.
The second man, sporting a blue jacket, black t-shirt, dark trousers, and a gold chain, reportedly expressed disgust over the hair but managed to finish his meal before leaving without paying.
Hives reported that the pair consumed a selection of dishes, including a sharer steak, a fillet steak, sauces, fries, onion rings, and cocktails. Remarkably, at least one of them appeared to have eaten the hair they had planted in their food.
After creating a commotion and refusing to settle the bill, the men left the restaurant. Despite attempts by a staff member to intercept them with a card machine, the diners used profanity and behaved aggressively as they exited.
The pair had then told staff they wouldn’t pay and caused a scene, swearing and acting aggressively before leaving – even as a worker tried to chase them down with a card machine.
Their farcical bid at getting out of paying happened on February 11.
This is the moment an alleged dine-and-dasher appears to sprinkle his own hair into his steak dinner in a bid to avoid paying
The men arrived at the Dial Restaurant in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire on February 11 with seemingly no intention of paying for their food
Mr Hives said of the night: ‘Two chaps came in and sat down. They got their food, perfect as always, and when they were eating the food the chap started sprinkling hair on his food.
‘You’d think that he’d complain then but he carried on eating his own hair.’
He added that the man in the blue coat immediately walked outside as the ruse began.
‘The chap walked up to the manager on shift and was just not pleasant at all, explained he wasn’t going to pay anything and just turned around and walked out,’ he said of the alleged hair-sprinkler.
‘The manager chased after them saying they will call the police. There was lots of swearing. It was around £165.
‘There were cocktails on the table as well. There was the fillet steak with a side of onion rings, French fries, the fries on the sharer steak, a couple of sauces and cocktails. Quite a substantial amount of food.
‘One of the guys ordered a fantastic sharing steak to himself, which is a hefty big bit of meat for one person, and the other chap ordered a fillet steak.
‘They guy who didn’t put his hair in his dinner said it put him off and that’s why they weren’t going to pay for anything.
‘It wasn’t a conversation, it was just: “We won’t pay for this.” Customers were in shock as to what was going on.’
Mr Hives, who has worked at the restaurant for 25 years, said he has never seen anything like it before – but acknowledged that ‘dine-and-dashing’ is an inevitable challenge in hospitality.
He believes other restaurants in the area have experienced similar incidents. However, they did not have CCTV that could have helped to establish whether the same duo have left a trail of breadcrumbs – and loose hairs – behind.
In farcical scenes the man appears to sprinkle hair into his food – and even seems to inspect it to ensure he is satisfied with his work
His dinner date then left immediately after finishing his food – and allegedly remonstrated ‘aggressively’ with staff over his refusal to pay
The restaurant has shared the footage (pictured) to make other businesses aware that the pair – and their hair – may not be far away
‘It’s unbelievable,’ he continued. ‘I’ve been doing this for 25 years and at The Dial and I’ve never witnessed anything so mind-boggling as to why they’d do that.
‘It’s just another hoop we have to jump through in hospitality to try and survive. It’s really tough.
‘The staff knew something was amiss. We know we do things right in the kitchen, all the chefs wear hats.
‘It was very argumentative words coming out of their mouths. I think they just wanted to shock (us) and leg it.
‘I was in shock. He actually does it three times. It’s so brazen it must be something he does, he must have bald patches all over his head.
‘Even to think of doing that is just awful. Unbelievable, it was definitely premeditated.
‘We contacted all the local restaurants to tell them. A few had had similar incidents but never got CCTV.
‘We want to unite as a town, welcome genuine customers and prevent anyone from taking advantage of our businesses.’
