CUSTOMERS who 'dined and dashed' at a Musselburgh restaurant have now settled their bill following an online appeal.

Ravelston House Hotel, on the town's North High Street, took to social media and threatened to make public CCTV footage of customers who left without paying on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 18.

The group, comprising three women and a child, ordered two courses along with drinks and, once finished, left the restaurant one by one, leaving the £70 bill unpaid.

Hotel owner Dean Ivinson told what had happened via a post on Facebook. He asked the group to get in touch and said that, if they did not, he would CCTV footage which showed their faces, as well as their car registration plate.

READ MORE: Ravelston House Hotel boss's anger at 'dine and dash' women and child

Some people who left comments on the Facebook post wondered whether it could have been a genuine mistake, but Mr Ivinson told the Courier that he thought it was “deliberate”.

He said: “They claimed that they asked a waiter for the bill and it never came – but looking at the CCTV, we can see that’s not the case.”

The Facebook post was updated on Friday afternoon to confirm that the group had since been in touch and paid. A member of the group phoned the hotel to settle the bill.

Mr Ivinson said: “They said they were local and I think they were embarrassed to be recognised if they went into the hotel.

"They had seen the post online. I think they were just worried that we would share the footage."

Mr Ivinson believes that posting his appeal online “definitely helped” to fix the situation and added: "There was a lot of responses and a lot of support.”