A RESTAURANT claims two “aggressive” diners who refused to pay their £165 bill planted their own hair in their food before complaining.
CCTV footage appears to show one of the men plucking strands from his head and placing them on his dinner.
The two men shared a bang-up dinner of steaks, fries, onion rings and cocktails, racking up a bill of £165 at The Dial restaurant in Burton upon Trent.
But the restaurant manager said they refused to pay for the food, claiming there was hair in the steak which had “put them off” their dinner.
Jez Hives, The Dial’s general manager, said the pair were swearing and being aggressive with staff before walking out without settling their £165 bill.
When he reviewed the CCTV the next day, Jez was shocked to see what appears to be one of the men sprinkling his own hair on the plate.
The video appears to show one of the diners, dressed in a white T-shirt and black jacket, pulling at his hair three times and bringing his hand down to his plate.
Jez, 43, said: “Two chaps came in and sat down. They got their food, perfect as always, and when they were eating the food the chap started sprinkling hair on his food.
“You’d think that he’d complain then but he carried on eating his own hair.
“When the guy went to get one of the members of staff to tell them, the other chap on the table immediately got up, put his coat on and walked outside.”
He said the other man, in a black T-shirt and blue jacket, then went up to one if his members of staff, and “was just not pleasant at all”, saying they wouldn’t pay for the meal, then “just turned around and walked out”.
“The manager chased after them saying they will call the police. There was lots of swearing. It was around £165,” Jez said.
The footage shows the manager trying to get the man dressed in blue to come back and pay for the meal, but he refuses.
The pair had ordered a “substantial amount” of food and drinks, Jez said.
He added: “There were cocktails on the table as well. There was the fillet steak with a side of onion rings, French fries, the fries on the sharer steak, a couple of sauces and cocktails.
“One of the guys ordered a fantastic sharing steak to himself, which is a hefty big bit of meat for one person, and the other chap ordered a fillet steak.”
Jez, who has worked at the Staffordshire restaurant for 25 years, said he has never seen anything like this before.
He thinks the dine and dash was premeditated, and has heard about similar incidents at other restaurants in the area.
He posted the video online to try to warn other local businesses about the two men’s conduct.
Jez said: “It’s unbelievable. I’ve been doing this for 25 years and at The Dial and I’ve never witnessed anything so mind-boggling as to why they’d do that.
“It’s just another hoop we have to jump through in hospitality to try and survive. It’s really tough.”
He defended the establishment’s kitchen hygiene standards, saying: “We know we do things right in our kitchen, all the chefs wear hats.”
Jez added he was in shock when he saw the footage, due to how brazen the hair-pulling action was.
“Even to think of doing that is just awful. Unbelievable, it was definitely premeditated,” he said.
Now, Jez said the restaurants want to “unite as a town” and “prevent anyone from taking advantage of our businesses”.
The incident has not been reported to the police.
