Pub landlord apologises and sacks staff member after group wrongly accused of £150 dine and dash in CCTV images

A pub landlord has been forced to apologise after the boozer wrongly accused a group of diners of doing a runner without paying, having put them on blast in a social media post at the time.

The act of legging it before paying for your meal is something that can have detrimental effects on an establishment and its revenue, which is probably why when this pub landlord thought he’d been swindled, his first thought was to call them out publicly.

However, it soon became known that the diners had in fact paid their £150 bill in full, and it was actually the pub’s mistake.

The blunder occurred at the Horse and Jockey in Tideswell which saw the diners shared around on social media via CCTV images.

The punters, which comprised of two men and two women, were accused of running off before the bill was settled.

Their food consisted of steaks, gammon and booze which racked up a whopping bill to which the pub claimed they slipped away before paying.

The punters were blasted online by the pub. (Facebook/The Horse and Jockey)

However, it has now been revealed that the group did pay the bill in full, but a member of staff forgot to ring the transaction through.

The punters even contacted the pub to clear the air, presumably after seeing their faces circulate round the internet.

So, the whole faff around supposedly not paying for two £27 10oz ribeye steaks, two £15.25 Derbyshire gammon steaks and some hearty ales was all for nothing.

Horse and Jockey manager Sam Watson has since spoken out, telling MailOnline: “We want to sincerely apologise to the people involved because we have now learnt that they did in fact pay for their meal.

“One member of staff took the group's order and a second member of staff took payment, however he did not run the payment through the till system.

“It meant that it looked as though they had left without paying when they had."

While he acknowledged it was an 'honest mistake', he did reveal that the staff member responsible had been let go.

Now, they've sacked the server. (Google Maps)

“There was no dishonesty involved from our staff, it was an honest mistake but we have dismissed the member of staff responsible for the error.

“The people involved have been in touch with the pub. I'm yet to speak to them but when I do I will apologise for our mistake.”

Earlier this year, Bernard McDonagh, 41, and Ann McDonagh, 39, were called out by an Italian restaurant in Swansea for racking up a £329 bill and walking out without paying on 19 April.

Bella Ciao said they were 'devastated' by the situation and shared videos and images alongside the message 'shame on you'.

The pair have since been jailed after it was determined that they dishonestly obtained food and drink at four restaurants and one takeaway in the South Wales area, with unpaid bills of £1,168.10.