A Thai restaurant has posted CCTV footage of a young couple they say tried to get out of paying the bill by placing hair in their food.

The woman and man, thought to be students aged about 18, went to the Thai Four Two in High Street, Rochester, on Wednesday lunchtime.

Manager Phasiri Kanchanamas says shortly after their meal arrived, the man complained he did not like it, but nevertheless said he would settle the account.

He then approached the waitress a second time and said he had found a clump of long black hair in his food and refused to pay.

Earlier staff said the couple had been acting suspiciously around the bar. CCTV caught him leaning over to the till and attempting pull the drawer open.

Miss Kanchanamas, who was upstairs in her living quarters, was called down to “deal with a problem”.

On examining camera footage, she says she saw the woman pulling her hair out and passing it to her fellow guest, who placed it on his plate.

She confronted them and insisted they paid the £19 bill for two meals and drinks, which they did and left.

She said: “Some people will go to great lengths not to pay for their meal. My colleague told me they had been acting weirdly the whole time they were here.

“They were smiling a lot. I knew it was not a hygiene matter for us as all our staff wear nets on their heads.

"And also, it was not just a single strand but several long black strands.”

The 26-year-old, who has helped to run the family business for 16 years, decided to put the CCTV on Facebook.

She says although the couple weren't verbally abusive and hadn't committed a crime, she found their behavior unacceptable.