Q129: Someone has run off without paying for a meal in my restaurant

This is probably an offence of making off without payment (also known in some areas as 'bilking').

The offence is committed when you use goods or services and knowing that payment is expected there and then and you leave, failing to pay for those services.

Examples:

• filling a car up with petrol, failing to pay for it and driving off from the petrol forecourt;
• eating a meal in a restaurant and failing to pay for it.

This offence is a type of theft and a conviction could lead to imprisonment and/or a fine.