Restaurant shares images of 'dine and dashers' accused of racking up £240 bill ... trends now

A restaurant on England's south coast says it has become the latest to fall victim to the craze of dine-and-dashers after a group of six people stuffed their faces with £240 of food and booze before legging it without paying the bill.

The Farm pub and restaurant on Friday Street in Eastbourne shared images of several people it claimed had eaten and drank for free on Sunday as they downed double vodka Red Bulls, bottles of prosecco and pints of lager.

The alleged dine-and-dashers also helped themselves to roast dinners and a burger at the cosy Sussex gastropub - then fled after their bank card declined, even taking their unfinished drinks with them.

Staff at the pub shared images of the alleged dine-and-dashers on Facebook in a bid to shame them - and told MailOnline they were livid at the brazenness with which the shameless thieves had filled their bellies before fleeing. 

Management posted the pictures of their own CCTV of the four people that they said '"forgot" to pay' on Facebook, adding, tongue in cheek: 'How forgetful of them'.

The post, made on Tuesday, has been shared more than 300 times by locals - and is the latest example of alleged dine-and-dashing to hit the UK as experts claim reports of the crime are on the rise.

Among the group was a man in a blue polo shirt, black trousers and white trainers, another man in jeans and a black t-shirt, a woman in a full-length black jacket and black clothing and another person in jeans, black shoes and a grey jumper.

Staff at the pub, who spoke to MailOnline on condition of anonymity, said the incident had knocked their 'faith in human nature'.

'A group of six came in and we took their order, then one of them came up to the bar to pay,' one worker said.

'Something felt off. It was mostly drinks they were ordering - what was funny was that we asked if they wanted to split two Red Bulls for the vodkas and they said, "Well, if it makes it cheaper".

'Two women in the group got up and we looked at them as they were going to walk down the corridor and one of them had a pint of lager in her hand and a glass of prosecco, and she just smiled. 

'His card declined twice and he said, "hang on a minute, I'll just grab another card". We went outside and they had vanished.'

Staff added that the group had been 'unsavoury' and 'larger than life' as they ordered several vodka Red Bulls, a bottle of prosecco and pints of lager as they sat down.

They then ordered more of the same as they tucked into Sunday roasts, running up a bill of around £240 in all.

The worker added: 'We gave them the benefit of the doubt. We gave them 24 hours to come back, which they didn't, and that's when we decided to put them all over social media.

'These people can't just get away with it. They feel they can - I don't know what drives them to do this. 

'It knocked my faith in human nature a bit - the minority ruins it for the majority. They're scumbags - they're just scumbags. It's a terrible thing to do.'

The pub has reported the incident to Sussex Police. MailOnline has contacted the force for comment.

The claim comes after a spate of dine-and-dash incidents across the country - which a leading hospitality industry figure claims many restaurants are powerless to stop.

Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, says dine-and-dashing is on the rise amid stretched police resources, making alleged food thieves feel they are untouchable.

'In all honesty I think there is an escalation because people have been able to get away with it, with limited or no action taken by the police in many circumstances,' Mr Kill told Yahoo! News UK. 

'The greater the chance of getting away with it, the more people will take that chance. 

'It is also clear that police have limited or no time to deal with petty crime and businesses feel that these crimes are not being taken seriously, resulting in people walking free without recourse.'