A popular Ponteland pub has received payment for an alleged dine and dash incident which occurred last week.

The Hexham Courant reported on the incident at the Blackbird Pub in Ponteland last week, which Northumbria Police have now confirmed has been fully paid for.

The pub confirmed that the while the value of the bill was paid in full it will not go to the Blackbird. It will instead be donated to Newcastle West End Foodbank, which is located in Benwell and one of the busiest food banks in the UK.

In addition to the donation from the pub, the Blackbird’s suppliers Bidfood UK have agreed to match it, while We Buy Cars for More have agreed to triple it, meaning that the food bank will receive around £500 in total.

Blackbird owner Stuart Young said: “There were two reasons for doing this. One is that pursuing was more about the principle than it was about the money. It occurred to me that there were people who genuinely needed a free meal much more than the customer who helped himself and we decided it was a very worthy cause.”