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Pubs anger after someone ‘wastes 42 seats’ with fake online reservation for seven tables
Because of the prank, forty-seven legitimate customers were turned away
A pub owner has issued a damning statement after forty-two seats were wasted in a prank online booking.
The Black Ladd Pub in Shaw, Oldham, saw seven table reservations not turn up, meaning that the revenue for a potential forty-two customers had been lost.
Taking to Facebook earlier this week on June 30th, the owner wrote sarcastically: “All Management and staff at The Black Ladd want to say a huge thank you to the individual or individuals who decided to use our online booking service to book tables using false information and wasting 42 seats in our restaurant yesterday.
The Black Ladd / Facebook
“It’s not enough that our sector has already been hit the hardest due to covid, but this individual or individuals decided to book 7 tables each for 6 diners, all for yesterday using false data and telephone numbers each time with no intention of ever turning up.
“This was done for no other reason than that this person or persons wanted to disrupt our business financially.”
They went on to explain that all seven bookings were made between 9:15am and 9:34am, so the likelihood of it being the same person is high.
They also pointed out that because of the fraudulent bookings in place, the pub had to turn away forty-seven legitimate customers.
The Black Ladd Pub / Facebook
Their post continued: “The main reason this is so frustrating is that our lovely staff lost half of their hours yesterday which they rely on to live on.
“I will of course personally ensure that none of my staff are out of pocket due to someone’s act of stupidity.”
Going forward, the pub will be amending their online booking system so that all potential diners will need to submit their card details to prevent such a revenue loss in the future – cards will only be charged in the event of a no-show or late cancellation.
You can read the pub’s full statement here.
The Black Ladd Pub is closed until Wednesday, July 7th, due to a Covid outbreak among staff members.