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On the second occasion, around 200 diners were involved, and police are beginning to suspect they belong to an organised criminal gang.
They firstly hit the headlines when, after booking the hall and food for a christening at the El Carmen restaurant in Bembibre (León province), offering to pay a deposit of €900, the diners left in a full-scale stampede just before staff were about to serve dessert.
They had already consumed a starter, main course and over 30 bottles of wine and spirits, and owed at least another €2,000.
The owner, Antonio Rodríguez, said he had 'never seen anything like it' in his 35 years in the catering industry.
But curiously, the Ponferrada Park restaurant in the same district had received a request days beforehand to host a christening banquet for 120 people.
Owner Alberto Villaverde told them they would have to pay the full cost, around €3,000, up front before the date, but they later phoned asking if they could pay a €900 deposit and the remaining €2,000 or so after the feast.
He refused, but by that time, had already taken the national ID number of the caller, which may lead to identifying at least one of the culprits – assuming it is authentic.
At around the same time, the Hotel Novo in Bembibre was contacted and asked to host an engagement party for 200 in one of its restaurants, but the owners declined, having previously hired out the banquet hall only to the same group and found odd items of cutlery and crockery stolen.
Another time, the group called to commission a christening banquet, food included, for 120.
Again, the Hotel Novo declined.
But the restaurant El Rincón del Pepín in Ponferrada fell for it – after the mass walk-out at the christening banquet, and without realising it was the same crowd of diners, they accepted a booking for a wedding reception for 200 people.
During the disco and live music, the revellers left in a stampede and jumped in their cars, driving off despite being chased by staff.
El Rincón del Pepín's management says the vehicles used were top-of-the-range and 'not the sort within reach of just anyone's budget'.
This time, the restaurant owners did not want to confirm the exact amount left unpaid – 100% of the cost, as no deposit had been left – but estimates based upon local rates for similar establishments for weddings suggest they owed about €10,000.
Some of the car registration numbers were taken down by staff.
In all four cases, the customers were Romanian.
Photograph taken by the picturesque and idyllic El Rincón del Pepín restaurant in Ponferrada, León province
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