Dine and dasher arrested after he's caught on CCTV 'seasoning steak with own hair'

The arrest relates to an incident at The Dial, a restaurant on Station Road in Burton-upon-Trent.

Two men allegedly ran up a bill of approximately £150 on February 16 before walking out without settling it.

The pair are said to have ordered steaks and cocktails, consumed portions of their meals, and then claimed they had discovered hairs in the food.

According to police, officers were called to the Station Road venue.

The men had ordered a sharing steak priced at £70, which one of them consumed entirely on his own, along with a £40 fillet steak, accompanying sides and cocktails.

After eating a portion of their food, the pair approached staff to complain that they had found hair in their dishes.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of theft in connection with an alleged dine-and-dash at a Staffordshire restaurant

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Restaurant manager Jez Hives told the BBC in February that the men then left the premises without paying after staff were unable to resolve the dispute.

Mr Hives said he was stunned when he reviewed the restaurant's security camera footage the following morning.

He claimed the recordings captured one of the customers physically pulling hair from his own head and depositing it onto his plate before raising the complaint with staff.

He said: "It is unbelievable that someone would go to that length to get free food."

Staffordshire Police confirmed the 23-year-old suspect from Tamworth was detained on Wednesday

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The manager added: "There was clumps of hair within the dish, and upon inspection of the CCTV the next morning, I found out he'd been picking his own hair out of his head and seasoning his steak with it."

Sgt Lee Parden of Staffordshire Police emphasised the force's commitment to tackling such offences.

He said: "We are determined to crack down on individuals involved in theft from local businesses and will do all we can to stop people from committing this type of crime, which has a significant impact on local people."

The arrested man, who is from Tamworth, has been placed on conditional bail and the investigation continues.