Brit among 5 arrested for ‘refusing to pay £10k meal bill’ after group claim diner invited them & ‘fled without paying’
AN ELDERLY Brit has been arrested after refusing to pay a £10,500 Ibiza restaurant bill.
The 77-year-old tourist was held along with five women all under-40 who were reportedly with him at the table.
The group allegedly tried to get out of paying by claiming a seventh person had left a few minutes earlier who’d invited them to dine out.
The relationship between the British man and his female companions, two Argentinian women, two Polish women and a Greek lady, was not made clear by police.
The restaurant has not been named.
A spokesman for Spain’s National Police said today: “Officers in Ibiza have arrested six people, a British man aged 77 and five women aged 24 to 39, two Argentinians, one Greek national and two Polish ladies, as the suspected authors of a crime of fraud for refusing to pay for dinner in a restaurant on the island.
“The group dined out, consuming high-value meals and drinks, before refusing to pay the bill which came to nearly 12,300eur (£10,500).
“Restaurant staff called police who questioned the employees when they arrived.
“They told the officers the customers had alluded to a supposed invitation by a seventh person who according to the individuals had left ten minutes earlier and had reserved the table for them and also invited them to dinner.
“They continued to refuse to pay without offering any alternative explanation to their alleged pretend excuse to evade their responsibility.
“That led to their arrests.”
All six are understood to have already appeared before a judge, although it was not clear today what the outcome of the court appearance was.
They were arrested in the early hours of Thursday.
It comes after a British couple were arrested at Majorca airport after trying to fly home without paying their £160 hotel bill.
The shamed duo, 21 and 22, had been staying in the resort of Palmanova next to Magaluf when they dashed to Palma Airport.
The hotel claimed they tried to pay via credit card but this failed – so they then left the lobby saying they were going to get cash.
But instead, they tried to escape back to the UK without settling their bill.
And they were then met at the airport by cops, reports Ultima Hora.
The couple ended up spending the night in the police cells before agreeing to pay their way – which was around 192 Euros.
The couple also had to shell out for new flights back to the UK.
Spanish police were left frustrated as the tourists had to be hauled to court over such a relatively small sum of cash.
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