Owner suffers 'big loss of earnings' due to hoax bookings

Marc Brunet Pascual said he hoped it was a one-off event because it felt "really scary"

A Spanish tapas restaurant in Somerset has been cruelly targeted by a fraudster who made a series of fake bookings.

Lo Rapitenc in Frome was fully booked for 40 diners on Saturday night, but only 13 regulars turned up.

The owner, Marc Brunet Pascual, said "at best it was a cruel joke, at worst an attempt at sabotage".

The restaurant reported it to police and Avon and Somerset Police has been approached for comment.

"It has been horrible; food wasted and a big loss of expected earnings, which will have an impact on our livelihood," the owner said.

Mr Brunet Pascual said the hoax would have a big impact on his business

Alarm bells started to ring for Mr Brunet Pascual when four guests failed to show up on Thursday night and the telephone number given with the online booking turned out to be false.

However, things became worse by the weekend when one of the bookings was under a rude name and also had a rude message attached.

"This week," said Mr Pascual, "the bookings were coming in more steadily and they were more than normal.

"They were for really different groups: we had gluten intolerances, vegans with allergies, all sorts of bookings that initially didn't ring any bell."

The first set of diners on Saturday night failed to turn up, followed by the second, and a third.

Mr Brunet Pascual tried contacting all of the guests, but only one of the telephone numbers was authentic. He eventually managed to speak to someone.

Lo Rapitenc serves home-cooked Spanish food and sells imported Spanish wines, beers and sherry

"This person ended up booking the whole restaurant in a way that would damage us the most.

"He basically told me how he hit my restaurant really hard tonight and really enjoyed planning it.

"It feels scary because we are a family and I run the restaurant with my wife. It feels really intrusive," he added.

Luckily the food did not all go to waste.

Mr Brunet Pascual shared some of it out among loyal customers, friends and family, however, the loss of earnings has taken a heavy toll on the business.

"It is really, really hard to digest because at the moment the High Street is quiet during the week and you wait for the weekend to make your money.

"And most importantly, the mental damage of seeing someone abusing us for apparently no reason.

"The police say it is very difficult to investigate this sort of crime," he added.

Mr Brunet Pascual said he would ring customers who make a booking in future to ensure they are genuine

Mr Brunet Pascual now intends to look into the online booking system to see if there is a better way of verifying customers when they make a reservation.

He also plans to call everyone who makes a booking two days before to check they are genuine.

"I want to believe it is a one-off incident," he added.

The fraudster has not yet been identified, but it is believed he is from a company in the Belfast area.

Avon and Somerset Police said the incident would be recorded as "malicious communications". Anyone with information has been asked to call the 101 non-emergency number.