He was forced to turn away 47 paying customers last Tuesday at the Black Ladd in Shaw, Greater Manchester after a fake customer booked seven tables.

The booking was made online using fake ID and contact information.

Staff at the Black Ladd said the booking was made as a “deliberate” attempt to disrupt their trade.

Among those customers turned away were elderly regulars who always book for dinner on Tuesday evenings.

The hospitality trade is trying to get back on track after so much time during the pandemic where they were unable to open.

The Black Ladd public house issued a statement saying “All management and staff at The Black Ladd want to say a huge thank you to the individual or individuals who decided to use our online booking service to book tables using false information and wasting 42 seats in our restaurant yesterday. It’s not enough that our sector has already been hit the hardest due to covid, but this individual or individuals decided to book 7 tables each for 6 diners, all for yesterday using false data and telephone numbers each time with no intention of ever turning up. This was done for no other reason that this person or persons wanted to disrupt our business financially. All tables were booked through our system from 9.15 am to 9.34 am which were allocated throughout most of the day. We had to turn away 47 customers yesterday that legitimately want to come and dine with us but due to this deliberate disgusting act we had to refuse them a table. The main reason this is so frustrating is that our lovely staff lost half of their hours yesterday which they rely to live on. What hurts just as much is we had to turn away some of our elderly loyal customers who come every Tuesday evening due to this disgusting act!! I will of course personally ensure none of my staff are out of pocket due to someone’s act of stupidity. We have had to change some of the parameters in our online system to avoid this from happening again but it is just as simple as before to book a table online when you wish to do so.”