A family wrongly accused of leaving a restaurant without paying their £150 bill have been awarded £75,000 in damages.

Peter and Ann McGirr were maligned by bosses at the Horse and Jockey in Tideswell who condemned them for their ‘shocking behaviour’ in a public Facebook post.

The couple, with their two children, ate two £27 10oz ribeye steaks with all the trimmings and two £15.25 Derbyshire gammon steaks, washed down with several real ales and lagers.

But it later emerged that the group did in fact pay the bill in full, though a member of staff forgot to ring the transaction through the till.

This was not before the pub had already uploaded CCTV images of the diners online, with the allegations being repeated in four press reports.

Belfast Crown Court heard on Friday that the family, from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, had suffered significant embarrassment and reputational damage.

Referred to as ‘dine-and-dashers’, the family sued the pub for libel on the basis of the ‘serious and defamatory accusations’. 

Peter Girvan, the barrister representing the family, told the court: ‘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.

‘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.’

The pub agreed to pay £75,000 in damages as well as the family’s legal costs, as part of a settlement agreement.

It accepted there was ‘no basis whatsoever’ for the allegations and apologised, the court heard.

The family’s solicitor, Darragh Carney, said they had been ‘vindicated’, reading a statement on their behalf outside court.

He added the group were ‘very satisfied with the settlement’ by way of compensation for ‘defamation of their character’.

It comes after the pub last year blamed the error on an ‘inexperienced member of staff’ who was said to have taken payment via card machine but not printed the bill on the till.

A statement issued by the pub in July last year read: ‘We want to sincerely apologise to the people involved because we have now learnt that they did in fact pay for their meal.

‘There was no dishonesty involved from our staff, it was an honest mistake but we have dismissed the member of staff responsible for the error.’

Following the verdict, Carol McGirr, daughter of Peter and Ann, said in a statement uploaded to Facebook: ’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.’

The post was met with supportive comments such as ‘I’m sorry to hear that you had to endure so much’ and ‘What a nightmare it has been’.