Making off without payment is a statutory offence in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It was first introduced on the recommendation of the Criminal Law Revision Committee and is intended to protect legitimate business concerns and applies where goods are supplied or a service is performed on the basis that payment will be made there and then. Examples are a "dine and dash" customer in a restaurant where the meal is supplied on the understanding that the bill will be paid before the diner leaves; a taxi passenger who runs off without paying the fare at the end of the journey; and a motorist who fills up with petrol at a garage and drives off when the attendant is distracted. For these purposes, it must be proved that the defendant knew that payment on the spot was required or expected, and made off dishonestly with intent to avoid payment of the amount due. Prior to the creation of the offence, running off might be a tort but it was not a crime; the supplier would have to bring a civil law suit against the recipient. The use of criminal law is intended to avoid this expense. To be a theft, the goods must belong to another when the appropriation occurs. A Sale of Goods Act determines when the ownership of goods passes. If the goods are being ascertained as part of the contract, title will pass when the goods are identified or measured. In a restaurant, this will probably occur when the food is cooked and plated. In a garage, it will occur when the fuel is measured as it passes through the pump into the car's tank. Similarly, if ownership passed before an intention to avoid payment was formed, no crime was committed. This became too common an event and so the law had to be clarified to enable convictions to be obtained despite civil law niceties.
England and Wales
In England and Wales, this offence is created by section 3 of the Theft Act 1978, which provides: In R v Allen, the House of Lords said that, in order for the offence to be committed, there must be "an intention to permanently deprive" by making off, and that a mere "intention to defer" payment is not sufficient. In theory, a person could eat a meal at a restaurant, not pay, but leave his name and address in order for the restaurant to start civil recovery procedures against him - as long as the details were correct, and he did intend to pay at some point in the future then no offence under Section 3 would be committed.
Northern Ireland
This offence is created by of the Theft Order 1978. Article 5 was repealed on 1 March 2007 by articles 1 and 15 and 41 of, and paragraph 17 of Schedule 1 to, and Schedule 2 to, the Police and Criminal Evidence Order 2007. Sentence A person guilty of this offence is liable on convictionon indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding £1000, or to both.
