Two teenagers have been ordered to pay three York restaurants more than £300 compensation for a food-and-drink binge which went unpaid.
Carlo Hirst and Dylan Trainor, both 19, tucked into Italian and Japanese food in some of the city’s most popular restaurants, York magistrates heard.
But their bank accounts didn’t match their big appetites, so the only option was either to do a runner or tell sceptical staff that they had to go to the cash machine to withdraw money.
During a week-long period of indulgence, they tried this ruse at Pizza Express, then at the Enoteca Italian restaurant and wine bar, then again at Wagamama, the leading Japanese food chain in Goodramgate.
Their splurge began at Pizza Express on 6 August. Prosecutor Hannah Middleton said the duo, both on benefits, “were in there for about an hour”. They consumed £163.50 of food and drink.
“After finishing their food, they decided to walk out of the restaurant.”
An inquisitive staff member asked them if they had paid as they waltzed out. Hirst and Trainor told the staff member they were going to a cash machine “to get money”.
“This was challenged by the staff member,” said Ms Middleton. “However, due to a commotion outside, with members of the public laughing at the situation, the defendants left the area.”
The next restaurant on their to-do list was Enoteca, the Italian restaurant in Bridge Street where they consumed £70 of food and drink. On this occasion, they tried to pay but their bank card was declined.
They went to a cash machine accompanied by staff to get cash out but then made excuses as to why they couldn’t provide the money.
They told staff they would eventually pay up, but the money never materialised. They were subsequently identified on CCTV, brought in for police questioning but remained silent.
Four days later, they went back into York and devoured more than £106 of pan-Asian food and drink at Wagamama.
After finishing their meal, they told staff they were going to a cashpoint to get money to pay for their feast. However, staff were sceptical of the young pair and locked all the escape doors.
“However, they pushed past the staff members and Dylan Trainor pushed one of the workers and also made threats towards this member of staff,” said Ms Middelton.
The pair made off before police showed up.
They were each charged with three counts of making off without payment and admitted the offences when they appeared at York Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Monday).
For Trainor, it was his second appearance at the same court in as many months.
In September, he was fined £150 and ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs after he admitted carrying an imitation air gun in woods in Thorpe Willoughby where police also found compatible pellets.
The teenager, of Grazier Close, Thorpe Willoughby, had three previous convictions for six offences including criminal damage and public disorder.
Hirst, of Dixon Gardens, Selby, had three previous convictions for five offences and was currently on a 12-month community order.
He had a recent conviction for making nuisance calls to the authorities and threatening behaviour at a shop in Selby town centre.
The threatening behaviour occurred at the Yorkshire Trading Company on Gowthorpe in August when he told someone inside the shop: “I’m going to fxxxxxx punch you in the face.”
His solicitor Liam Jackson said that Hirst was immature and had endured a traumatic childhood.
Graham Parkin, for Trainor, claimed the teenager’s food-and-drink spree in York started off innocently enough in that he thought he would “have enough to pay his share”, but the transaction was declined.
Alan Kaye, chairman of the magistrates’ bench, told them: “You have engaged in a bit of a spree in York, making off without paying for food that you have ordered and consumed. It’s totally unacceptable.”
He told Hirst that for theses offences, he would remain on his existing community order because it was imposed after the new offences in York were committed. The requirements of that order included 100 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation-activity days.
For the new offences, Hirst was ordered to pay £254.90, including £81.75 compensation to Pizza Express, £35.10 to Enoteca and £53.05 to Wagamamas. The total £169.90 compensation was half the amount of food and drink consumed by the teenagers.
Hirst was also ordered to pay £85 costs.
Trainor was given a 12-month community order with up to 15 rehabilitation-activity days and the same amount of compensation. He was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £114 victim surcharge.
