An Indian restaurant has accused a table of four of slipping out without paying after feasting on a meal worth £200 – including nine main courses.
In a furious Facebook post, Saffron in Northampton shared CCTV footage of four young men coming in for a late-night curry.
They tucked into lamb, chicken, chapati, naans, rice and poppadoms before allegedly making their escape without settling the bill.
The social media post said: ‘This kind of behaviour isn’t just theft, it affects hardworking small businesses and our local community.
‘We have reported the incident to the police, and footage has been handed over. We urge neighbouring businesses to stay alert.’
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According to a receipt shared alongside the footage, the group tucked into:
- Two portions of chargrilled lamb chops
- Three chicken chaats
- Two chicken tikka mains
- Two chicken tikka masalas
- Two garlic naans
- Three chapati
- Four poppadoms
- One chutney tray
- One portion of chips
- Nine 330ml bottles of Coke
The total cost of the meal was £197.30.
Saffron’s owners said: ‘It’s a big impact. Business as it is, we’re 30 per cent down.
‘It’s very quiet at the moment for a Monday night, it’s mostly half of our takings.
‘People go out for a quick smoke and then they do a runner, but this is the first time like this.’
They added: ‘We’re an upmarket restaurant. There were young waiters around and they weren’t sure what to do.
‘We don’t expect this from anybody running away when they had food. If they want food, if they ask us, we will give them something – free of charge.’
Northamptonshire Police confirmed they were treating the incident as a theft.
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