CCTV footage captured a family of nine allegedly executing a carefully planned dine-and-dash at a Turkish restaurant in Hertfordshire, leaving behind an unpaid bill of £159.60. The group, consisting of five adults and four children, slipped out of Turkish Kitchen in small groups before the final diner climbed into a white van parked directly outside and drove away.
Incident Details
The incident occurred on June 30 at the Turkish Kitchen restaurant in Hertfordshire. General manager Klaus Ademi, 30, said nothing about the group raised suspicion while they were dining. They ordered normally, including a sharing platter, lamb ribs, three beers, a strawberry daiquiri, a Coke Zero, and a lemonade. However, after staff brought the bill, the customers repeatedly insisted they would pay “in a minute.”
Security footage then shows the group leaving two or three at a time, with one person remaining at the table until everyone else had gone. Moments later, the final diner walked out and got into the waiting van, which drove away. “It was like a getaway car. It was a whole plan to leave without paying,” Ademi said.
Impact on the Restaurant
Ademi, who has worked at the family-run restaurant for seven years, was off duty when the incident occurred but reviewed the CCTV footage afterward. “This hasn’t happened before. It’s a family business and it’s quite a large loss, especially right now when restaurants are struggling,” he said. “It is hard to make a profit with all the costs rising. It doesn’t just affect us money-wise; it affects the staff emotionally. You serve them all night, give them good food and good service and then they leave without paying for anything.”
The restaurant shared the CCTV footage on Facebook in hopes of identifying the group and recovering the outstanding bill. In a post, Turkish Kitchen stated: “Today, a group of five adults and four children left our restaurant without paying their £159.60 bill. This was not a misunderstanding or an accidental oversight. From everything we witnessed, it appeared to be a deliberate decision to leave without paying. A £159.60 loss is significant for a family-run business like ours and directly affects our staff, suppliers and our ability to keep serving the community. To the people involved, you still have the opportunity to do the right thing by contacting us and settling the outstanding bill.”
Next Steps
Ademi said he intends to report the incident to the police. The restaurant continues to seek information from the public to identify the family.
