Restaurant 'feels helpless' over dine and dashers

Dine-and-dash thefts are leaving staff feeling "helpless", a restaurant manager has said.

Emma Sadofsky, of The Brazilian Churrascaria, on Hull Marina, said a group of five diners failed to pay a £160 bill after "running away" on 10 September.

Nearby restaurants have also reported problems. Liam Harm, a supervisor at The Smoke Room, in Humber Street, said he had known families to sit outside before waiting for a "quiet moment" to leave without paying.

UK Hospitality, the industry body, said a third of restaurants had reported dine and dash incidents over the past year. Humberside Police said it was investigating a report of theft at Sadofsky's restaurant.

Sadofsky said the incident was "really disappointing".

"I think people feel like they're entitled to do what they want without any sort of thought to staff, paying wages, food costs and everything else.

"It's a real challenge for us as a industry to keep our head above water without people stealing from us."

Liam Harm feels less comfortable with people eating outside in case they leave without paying [Jasmine Lowe/BBC News]

She added: "It's left us feeling helpless, because we're having to control all our spends and our costs. And when it's quiet, I'm sometimes running the restaurant by myself and I don't want to be in a confrontation with a group of people."

Harm said it was difficult to predict who would try to avoid paying.

"We've had incidents where I've dealt with families where they don't come across or strike me as those sorts of people to dine and dash."

He also described an incident the restaurant reported to police in 2025, in which men were seen on camera apparently pulling out their own hair to put in food before refusing to pay.

"It was clearly planned. They ordered a big sharing platter," he added. "They've probably thought, we don't like the look of that price, we aren't paying for it."

Allen Simpson, the chief executive of UK Hospitality, said dine and dash was a "crime on the rise", but difficult to spot.

"They don't turn up in a stripy shirt with a bag saying 'swag' on the back," he said. "It could be a young group of lads, it could be a family, all from grandparents to grandkids out together.

"If you're going to a restaurant and refusing to pay, it's important that you understand you are doing that to a restaurant which may well be struggling to make ends meet. The bill you refuse to pay could be the final straw."

Humberside Police advises restaurants to think about exit points, ensure staff have a clear view of the entrance from the till and consider installing CCTV. The force also advises staff to take mobile phone numbers and credit card details when accepting bookings.

However, on its website the force concedes: "There's only so much you can do to establish the identity of customers, and there's nothing to stop them giving false information."

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