To be so upset people think we left without paying?

[ShownOnCCTV]

Went for Sunday Lunch - have been to the pub many times before.

15 of us celebrating a birthday - balloon for the birthday girl.

Spent a lot- three courses, plenty of alcohol as well always do - all this is irrelevant but want to put the whole picture - left a 15% tip- service/food/ everything was excellent as always.

Have just been made aware of a FB post, CCTV picture of a couple standing by our table, all of us in full view - with a big post from the owner of the pub saying that these people left without paying please find them

Below this is text saying how hard it is to run a pub without people doing a runner and in this wall of text it says 'the people at the table are not involved '

Cue loads of people saying- 'its a kids 10th birthday it can't be hard to find them'
'scum, who goes for a birthday and doesn't pay'
'great pictures, easy to find then- and a link to my work page'

I have rung up and asked them to take the post down - they refuse
I have asked them to blur our images they refuse.

My son has just had someone ring him asking him why didn't we pay.

I have posted on the page asking them to remove our images and that we have proof we paid but still nothing.

Owner is responding to other posts on the page so must have seen mine. Just saying how hard it is for people to walk without paying (I'm sure it is, but we are booked for next week- 20 people, but I shall now go elsewhere)

AIBU to be so upset about this- so many comments thinking we are thieves.

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe unintended libel is still a thing. Not meaning to do something doesn't mean you haven't done it. OP, her child, and the rest of the party are being accused of theft because of the pub's pictorial actions. They've been libelled.

See also, pic of underage child, and misuse of CCTV images/GDPR.

Regardless

If it has affected your reputation.

And you've got proof of the messages people are sending you and are posting about you.

I'm sure you could sue them.

Sign post the owner to the news article people have shared.

Might make them pay more attention

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/report-a-breach/personal-data-breach/personal-data-breaches-a-guide/

Google reviews or trust pilot usually trigger a response for better service. They will be falling over themselves. Terrible that you've asked and they refused. So they lost the payment from two customers but now 20! Poor choices.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgny7epgvpo.amp

Exactly this.

Libel can be committed through negligence. If a person looking at the picture could reasonably assume OP and family were the subject of the reputationally damaging claim by the landlord, that is libel. You don’t even need to be named. Just identifiable. And Intent is neither here nor there. A small clarification buried in a wall of text is arguably not sufficient. Lawyers and editors argue about this stuff all the time in the media. I am libel trained. I have seen letters before action.

Information Commissioner? They can levy eye-watering fines.

Not if it's buried in text where it won't easily be seen by everyone viewing the post. They might be covered if they had put it in large letters right underneath the picture, but they didn't.

Certainly don’t bother with the police - it’s not a criminal matter it’s civil.

Fight fire with fire:

I assume this pub is local to you from your post. I would make a point of going there and demanding (loudly) that your family’s faces are blurred. Take the receipt with you and wave it around.
Say that you will be back each evening unless they edit the post to blur your family’s faces and change the initial comment, saying (in capitals) that the family with blurred faces are not involved. Also say that you have provided proof and would be very grateful if the customers who have seen your could post that you have paid.

They could potentially ban you but the publicity would be very negative for them. Point out that you will contact local press if they don’t comply (be ready with your Daily Fail sad faces).

You could also threaten to sit outside the pub (parked on a public road) with a sign in the window of your car stating the above - as you won’t be on their premises and are not saying anything untrue they won’t be able to do a thing about it.

Sue the bastards. Potentially £75K in it for you! Sadly people don't forget these things, even when you prove your innocence.

I doubt the police will be any use at all, will tell you it's a civil case. I'd start your own separate post with a picture of your receipt saying that the restaurant owner knows that you paid at the time of the party but by posting your pictures with the people who left they have defamed you and are refusing to take the picture down. People dont read comments, they will read your post.

I do think any business needs to be very careful when putting anything on social media - or even just a picture in the window - when it comes to things such as shoplifting, dine and dash etc

Because there is always the chance they get it wrong - and that can have real repercussions for innocent people.

You might not even know that a business has posted your image in its site, publicly accusing you of theft.

So I could make a post on Facebook with a photo of you saying ’belly dancer for hire. £12.50 an hour will travel an hour and a half from The Wirral, customers must provide their own music or let us know in advance and we will send a banjo player, please note that Suzanne seen in this photo will not be the dancer who attends, if it is a birthday we can also provide a cake in a variety of flavours including pistachio.

Threaten them with legal action.
Leave a negative review on trip adviser.
Get your family and friends to BOMBARD the post with messages saying how appalling it is that you’ve been dragged into this.
this is awful, I’d be furious.

I’m sure this falls under UK defamation law, specifically false innuendo

Quote the Defamation Act 2013. The law means even if the words themselves don’t directly name the person, the context or placement of an image can cause a reasonable reader to think the statement applies to them.

Applies to FB posts just as much as newspapers

Which is against what law specifically?

Also you’d have a lot of screenshots to show the image did cause reasonable readers to think the statement applied to you …

True, a court case would cost eye watering sums of money. However, an hour of advice and a couple of letters may be sufficient to resolve this and costs can be agreed before work is undertaken. This is not my area of law but in my area a letter from a lawyer telling a business owner that there is the potential for legal action is usually enough to stop them doing something they shouldn’t be doing. There is never any harm in asking for advice from a lawyer, but always check what their fees are first!

The restaurant specifically says they are not involved in the post. I don’t see that a court would overlook that even if people commenting on the post do.

It isn’t.

I'd be very tempted to find an article online about some food establishment that has been done by Environmental Health and then make a mini collage with a big photo of the guilty party next to an equally big photo of the pub you went to, with their sign very prominent.

Post it on FB with a massive title saying "Restaurant with filthy kitchen prosecuted by Environmental Health".

Then add two or three dramatic paragraphs about how horrifyingly disgusting it all is, followed by a very brief mention that the other pub, by contrast, does nice, safe food and is totally unconnected to the headline.

Then just wait for the pub to contact you...

The pub isn’t accusing her party of not paying

What crime do you believe has been committed?

Small claims under £10k costs little