Pubs are calling time on big-boozing swindler who runs up staggering bills
LANDLORDS were yesterday warned to be on the lookout for a heavy-drinking conman who vanishes after running up eye-watering bills in a picturesque holiday area.
In his latest spree, the thief enjoyed a steak pie for lunch before tucking into a fillet steak for his dinner.
This was all washed down with four bottles of Peroni’s popular Nastro Azzurro beer, 14 vodka and colas, four large white wines, two gins and two pints of Hop House craft lager.
Asked then whether he would like a coffee, the man ordered a £23 bottle of Prosecco and drank it all before staggering off to his room.
He parked close to an Audi that staff thought he had arrived in but he had been driving a 17-year-old blue Vauxhall Corsa.
The man visited the Wyvill Arms in Constable Burton, North Yorkshire, on Saturday November 17 and ran up a food and drink bill of
‘He’s a pathological liar and clearly a very heavy drinker’
£195.50 in an afternoon. He retired to his room, apparently tired and emotional after saying his wife had not turned up to meet him as planned – then left in the morning leaving an unpaid bill of £335.
Previously, a customer thought to be the same man had run up an even bigger bill at The White Horse in nearby Ripon, in the Yorkshire Dales.
Landlord Dave Bate said a man matching this description stayed for five nights up until November 16 and left without paying his bill of about £500.
The bill included £400 for his accommodation and £100 for the 25 pints of lager, costing £4 a pint, he put on his tab.
Mr Bate said: “The man said his boss would be paying. He’s a pathological liar and clearly a very heavy drinker.”
The swindler told staff at the Wyvill he was due to meet his wife at the pub but seemed surprised and upset that she had not arrived.
He had booked for two nights but stayed for just that night.
When he left the following day, he said he was going to meet his wife and that he would be back with her.
Waitress Alice Thompson said he is in his late 20s or early 30s and tall, with a large build and strawberry-blond hair. She said that he was chatty and friendly throughout Numbers game...the hefty bill that the heavy-drinking conman ran up at the Wyvill Arms in Constable Burton, above, where he drank Peroni and dined on fillet steak The White Horse in Ripon where the conman fled a £400 bill for a five-night stay, plus a £100 charge for downing 25 pints of lager, costing £4 each
his stay, adding that he arrived at 11.30am and went to bed at 7.30pm.
Landlord Nigel Stevens said they usually take a deposit from guests staying overnight but regrettably he did not on this occasion. He admitted he had been suspicious at the amount the man was drinking and had checked the car park to see what car the man had been driving.
Mr Stevens saw an expensive Audi and was reassured.
He had not realised this was another customer’s car and the suspect had arrived in a 51 reg Vauxhall Corsa.
He added: “I couldn’t believe he was still standing after drinking all that. I’d advise other pubs and hotels to be on their guard.”
Police are investigating if the man left the Wyvill and went to the Countryman’s Inn at nearby Hunton.
The pub reported a man also left there without paying his food, accommodation and bar bilsl.
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