FAST FOOD
Family wrongly accused of pub dine & dash and awarded £75,000 ‘are MILLIONAIRES who rejected pleas to drop lawsuit’
A member of staff at the pub forgot to put the transaction through the till
A FAMILY who was wrongly accused of leaving a restaurant without paying the bill have turned out to be millionaires who refused to drop a dine and dash lawsuit.
Peter and Ann McGirr, along with their children Peter Jr and Carol, were awarded a whopping £75,000 by the Horse and Jockey pub where the family went for a dinner last year.
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They ordered £27 10oz ribeye steaks and two £15.25 Derbyshire gammon steaks, washed down with several real ales and lagers.
Soon after they left, the pub posted CCTV footage of the family on Facebook and alleged they left without paying the £150 bill for the fancy dinner.
The restaurant even called them out for their shocking behaviour - and the family soon made headlines after being accused of dining and dashing.
However, those allegations were later revealed to be false, prompting the family to sue the pub owner.
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The McGirrs had paid their bill in full, but a member of staff at the pub had forgotten to ring the transaction through the till.
The pub said that the error was caused by an "inexperienced member of staff" who took a card payment but forgot to put it through the till.
The millionaire family sued the pub for libel based on the "serious and defamatory accusations".
It is understood that the pub's management settled before evidence was presented - but apologised and acknowledged the distress they caused to the family.
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Millionaire McGirrs are among the richest people living in County Tyrone.
The family run and own McGirr Engineering, an internationally renowned company that manufactures block making machines for the construction industry.
According to latest documents filed at Companies House, the business is worth more than £2 million and has cash reserves of £1.3 million.
Following the lawsuit, pub landlord John Watson had to fork out almost £140,000, which included £75,000 in damages and £60,000 in legal costs.
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Mr Watson is said to have flown to Belfast to apologise to the McGirrs and even offered them a complementary meal and stay at his pub in return for dropping the lawsuit.
A source told that the family didn't accept the free services and instead pursued a lawsuit because of their "wealth and excellent reputation".
The source said: "A lot of ordinary people might have accepted this.
"But given the McGirrs' wealth and excellent reputation, that was never going to happen with them.
"Their reputation received such a battering they were left with little choice other than to take legal action to restore their name."
A family friend of the McGirrs' added: "They are very well known and respected in the Omagh area and are one of the wealthiest families around here.
"Everybody was very shocked when these allegations were first made because the McGirrs are not short of a pound or two.
"Some people just couldn't understand why people as rich as them would do something like this and a lot of horrible things were said about them, not just on social media but by some within the community.
"It was a very difficult time for the family because they knew all along that they were innocent."
The family's lawyer said that the pub's claims - and the subsequent news coverage - caused significant damage to the reputation of the family.
They 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."
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A statement issued by the pub last July 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."
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