Diners found out on Facebook

An Australian restaurateur has successfully used Facebook to track down a group of diners who racked up a bill of AUS $520 (around £220) and bolted without paying.

The five diners ate their way through the menu at the Seagrass seafood restaurant in Melbourne, ordering oysters, trout and red emperor and washing it all down with wine.

However, when the bill came the group bolted. Seagrass proprietor Peter Leary was fuming, but he remembered one of the diners asking about a former waitress.

He contacted her and she suggested trying to track down the group on Facebook.

After a quick search on Facebook the group were traced. One of them worked in a nearby restaurant.

Leary contacted the manager of the other restaurant and within hours the diners returned to settle the bill and even left a hefty tip, Leary said.

"On this occasion I guess you could say that being on Facebook backfired for them," said Leary.

Facebook is the world's most popular social-networking site with more than 120 million active users; it is also the most popular photo-sharing website with more than 10 billion photos posted.

www.facebook.com

Save up to £16 a year this Christmas when you subscribe to Web User!