An Edinburgh family-run restaurant have hit out after a diner left half way through their meal without paying.
The Bombay Spice, on Duke Street, Leith, took to social media with a CCTV picture of the man to try and spread the word for fellow business owners at what they described as a difficult financial period.
The man, with short hair and a grey beard, wearing a black jacket, reportedly sat down to a meal last Sunday, January 22, and a drink of beer at the Indian restaurant before receiving a phone call from a supposed friend who was nearby.
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The daughter of the restaurant owner, who handles the front of house aspect of the eatery, said that the man said he was leaving to meet his friend and then come back, but due to safety reasons, they chose not to pursue him.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, she said: "The man had walked in very cheery and we sat him down, while he was waiting for his food he went on a face call with his wife and then he had called his friend saying to come over to the restaurant to join him.
"Once his food came, he had eaten most of it and called his friend up again and was wondering where he was, the friend was supposedly lost around junction street and couldn’t find us.
"The man said he would pop out to get his friend here and as he left I noticed he went in the opposite direction, I chose not to go after him for safety reasons but I waited for the man to come back after an hour and he was a no show."
The woman added that previous appeals to the police had fallen on deaf ears after they were robbed of a three-figure sum, so they decided to warn fellow businesses instead of involving the authorities.
She continued: "We couldn’t do much as the police didn’t do anything before so we wanted people to be aware of this man.
"This can impact our business as we aren’t making as much as we used to due to people not having enough money at the moment as January sales and February sales tend to decrease after Christmas."
The restaurant also attached an image of the man's table before he dashed from the scene, with half of the food having been eaten and a pint of beer consumed. They estimated the cost of what he had eaten at around £24.
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