Irish Family Awarded Rs 85 Lakh For False ‘Dine And Dash' Accusation

News18

2 days ago

Last Updated:
The family said the incident caused great embarrassment, especially because it was shared online.
A well-known family from Northern Ireland has won £75,000 (approximately Rs 86.3 lakh) in a legal case after they were wrongly accused of leaving a pub without paying their bill. Peter and Ann McGirr, along with their adult children Peter Jr and Carol, were left embarrassed after a pub in Derbyshire, UK, claimed they hadn't paid for a £150 (over Rs 17,200) meal in July last year.
The Horse and Jockey pub in Tideswell posted CCTV photos of the family on Facebook where they claimed that the family walked out without settling their bill for steaks, gammon and drinks. The post also labelled them as 'dine-and-dashers."
But it was later revealed that the family had paid in full. A staff member took the money but failed to record the payment properly.
According to Daily Mail, the McGirrs are a wealthy and respected family from County Tyrone. They own McGirr Engineering, a successful business worth over £2 million with cash reserves of £1.3 million.
A friend of the family told the outlet, 'They are very well known and respected in the Omagh area and are one of the wealthiest families around here. Everybody was very shocked when these allegations were first made because the McGirrs are not short of a pound or two."
The family said the incident caused great embarrassment especially because it was shared online. Similar accusations are featured in different newspapers' reports.
Barrister Peter Girvan, representing the family in Belfast High Court, explained how the false claim had affected them.
'These articles contained serious and defamatory accusations that the plaintiffs had engaged in dishonest and criminal conduct by deliberately absconding without settling a bill of approximately £150," he said.
'The allegations were entirely false. The plaintiffs had not engaged in any such conduct, and the statements made by the defendants had no factual basis."
As part of the settlement, the pub agreed to pay £75,000 in damages to the McGirr family. They also covered the family's legal fees.
An apology was also read out in court where the pub admitted the mistake and accepted that the accusations were false.
Carol McGirr later shared a message on Facebook, saying: '10 months later… thank god it's all over and our names are cleared. Tip for all our friends and family: don't pay for your food and drink before you eat as this is what can happen… plus use a card otherwise we had [sic] no evidence of payment."
According to the BBC, the false posts have now been removed from social media and the pub has admitted that there was 'no basis whatsoever" for the claims.