CRAPPY food, rude staff, bill taking an age to come? There's a number of reasons many of us have, at some point, considered doing a runner from a restaurant without paying the bill. C'mon now, yes you have...
...that's £116.50 more than his half of the meal
Still, few of us do, that'd make you a cretin.
Step up Nathan Burgess, 23, of Eccles, and Jordan O'Neill, 21, of Pendleton, who, after consuming £57 worth of food and drink at Frankie & Benny's in Salford Quays this January, took off without paying the bill.
Staff gave chase but the slippery pair got away.
Attending the scene, two canny officers from Salford's Pendleton police station recovered the offenders drinking straws and took them to the police lab.
Using saliva from the straws, experts ran a DNA check through the UK's national database - the world's first national DNA database containing over 5 million profiles - hoping to snag the pair.
Luckily, Burgess and O'Neill's details were found on the system and the pair were tracked down and arrested in September.
The pair pleaded guilty at Manchester and Salford magistrates court to a charge of making off without payment.
Burgess was ordered to pay costs of £145 (that's £116.50 more than his half of the meal) and was given an eight week curfew between 7pm and 7am, while O'Neill was ordered to pay the £57.15 bill and carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.
That'll teach 'em. Though Burgess and O'Neill's misdemeanor pales into insignificance next to that of Latvian filmaker, Janis Nords, who, utterly broke but wanting to impress a 'high maintenance blonde', racked up bills of £5,880 around some of London's top restaurants in 2010
...that's a fair bit of dishwashing
