![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SEC_250025843-38e8.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe Horse and Jockey wrongly accused the McGirr family of not paying their \u00a3150 bill<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tThe Horse and Jockey wrongly accused the McGirr family of not paying their \u00a3150 bill<\/p>\n
A family wrongly accused of leaving a restaurant without paying their \u00a3150 bill have been awarded \u00a375,000 in damages.<\/p>\n
The Horse and Jockey in Tideswell, Derbyshire, made a public post on Facebook claiming Peter and Ann McGirr and their two children failed to pay for their food.<\/p>\n
The post featured CCTV images of the diners, which, along with theaccusations, were then shared in four press reports.<\/p>\n
The family, who ate two \u00a327 10oz ribeye steaks two \u00a315.25 Derbyshire gammon steaks and drank several beers at the pub in July last year, did in fact pay for their meal.<\/p>\n
It turned out a member of staff had taken a card payment <\/a>but forgotten to ring the transaction through the till. <\/p>\n Belfast\u00a0<\/a>Crown Court <\/a>heard on Friday that the family, from County Tyrone,\u00a0Northern Ireland<\/a>, had suffered significant embarrassment and reputational damage. <\/p>\n They sued the pub for libel on the basis of the \u2018serious and defamatory accusations\u2019, which included calling them \u2018dine and dashers\u2019. <\/p>\n Peter Girvan, the barrister representing the family, told the court: \u2018These 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 \u00a3150.<\/p>\n \t\t \u2018The allegations were entirely false. The plaintiffs had not engaged in any such conduct, and the statements made by the defendants had no factual basis.\u2019<\/p>\n The pub agreed to pay \u00a375,000 in damages as well as the family\u2019s legal costs as part of a settlement. <\/p>\n It accepted there was \u2018no basis whatsoever\u2019 for the allegations and apologised, the court heard.<\/p>\n Reading a statement on the family\u2019s behalf, their solicitor Darragh Carney, said they had been \u2018vindicated\u2019 and were \u2018very satisfied with the settlement\u2019. <\/p>\n \t\t After the incident, the pub blamed the mistake on an \u2018inexperienced member of staff\u2019 who was said to have taken payment via a card machine but not printed the bill on the till.<\/p>\n In a statement, it said: \u2018We want to sincerely apologise to the people involved because we have now learnt that they did in fact pay for their meal.<\/p>\n \u2018There was no dishonesty involved from our staff, it was an honest mistake but we have dismissed the member of staff responsible for the error.\u2019<\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SEI_211430112-c654.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe Horse and Jockey have agreed to pay \u00a375,000 to the family (Picture: Google street view)<\/p>\n![\"Pub](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SEI_211490263-833d.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe pub later admitted they had made a mistake and the family had paid the bill (Picture: Facebook\/ Horse and Jockey)<\/p>\n
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