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Thursday 9 May 2024

Scoff-and-scarper



Dine-and-dash couple caught on video admit stealing more than £1,000 across five restaurants

Amarried couple have pleaded guilty to carrying out a string of “dine-and-dash” incidents in Wales, leaving restaurants more than £1,000 out of pocket.

Bernard McDonagh, 41, and his wife Ann, 39, admitted leaving five restaurants without paying and racking up a total bill of £1,168.10, Swansea magistrates’ court heard.

They face the prospect of prison when they are sentenced later in May 2024.


I've been wondering why they call it 'Dine-and-dash'.  It doesn't quite capture the flavour of this particular caper. Scoff-and-scarper seems closer.

We've seen a few local scoff-and-scarper cases reported on a lesser financial scale, but I suppose people have to train themselves to reach this standard. The really big pie diet seems to be favoured.

13 comments:

DiscoveredJoys said...

Devour and depart? Guttle and scuttle?

Sam Vega said...

A friend working in a teacher training college had a student who used to specialise in this, way back in the 1980s. He would hang his jacket near the door, eat fairly frugally, avoid the wine, and choose his moment to "fetch his wallet" and run for it. He was an athlete who was used to long-distance running.

On one occasion, an Indian guy with a cleaver chased him from Winchester town centre all the way through the suburbs and out into the countryside.

DAD said...

Having seen a photograph of the pair, it would seem that they could exist without any food for a month.

The Jannie said...

"The really big pie diet seems to be favoured."
And, going by the photographs, many of them . . .

A K Haart said...

DJ - yes there could be quite a few which make dine-and-dash seem bland.

Sam - I wonder if that student played the same trick again?

DAD - I agree, it's not as if they need free food.

Jannie - they look like big pie people to me too.

Macheath said...

‘Gobble and scram’, perhaps, or, given the pie element, ‘wolf and waddle’?

Or maybe just ‘feast and f*** off’?

(Apologies for lowering the tone)

A K Haart said...

Macheath - ha ha, I like all three of those, but 'wolf and waddle' certainly fits this particular story and probably quite a few more.

Tammly said...

How the hell do you run when your stuffed with restaurant food?

A K Haart said...

Tammly - slowly I expect, although maybe they had a getaway hot dog van.

dearieme said...

"I've been wondering why they call it 'Dine-and-dash'." I guess it might be American. Much American English is so absurdly wordy that we should congratulate them on that neat three-syllable summary.

A K Haart said...

dearieme - it sounds American to me too. Maybe an absurdly wordy version will be delivered by sociologists.

Anonymous said...

Instead of using catchy descriptions, why not just call them what they are - thieves.
I had the misfortune of dealing with quite a few of these, mainly from students at the local university college. Using their enhanced education and intelligence in interviews with this thick, street Bobby, they eventually realised that being charged and convicted for Making Off Without Payment; Incitement to Commit Fraud; or Obtaining Pecuniary Advantage by Deception, and a subsequent criminal record,could have adverse future employment prospects. Three, who were being sponsored by the MoD, stopped finding it funny when their sponsorships were cancelled, and future careers as Army officers disappeared. For some reason, the Students Union made it clear in their newspaper that it was all my fault for the shattered dreams. They were good days.
Penseivat

A K Haart said...

Penseivat - that's interesting, it's not easy to see how they would persuade themselves it isn't a crime like shoplifting or stealing food from Tesco. It sounds as if their Students Union managed to present it as some kind of jape, but it still seems amazingly gullible of them to go out and do it. This kind of thing has always made me wonder what intelligence is supposed to be.