A WOMAN was shocked to see a service charge added to her bill after enjoying a meal out at a pub in an Oxfordshire town.

Sara Miller went to the Old Auctioneer in Banbury with a group of friends on Sunday.

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In a post on the Banburyshire Info Facebook page, she said she enjoyed her meal, but warned people about the 12.5 per cent service charge that was added to her bill - and decided not to pay it.

She said on Facebook: "Warning. Went to the Old Auctioneer today with a group of friends. Nice food, a few bevvies. Had a lovely time.

"Got our bill and were shocked to see that they’d added £25 service charge to it. On the bottom of the menu it says in small writing 'discretionary service charge of 12.5 per cent'. We obviously got it taken off.

"We would’ve left a tip but not after that. So people of Banbury if you go there, be warned."

The post received 290 comments with people debating about whether customers should pay a service charge or not.

Resident Ben Lawson said: "Happened to me the other day, party of eight service charge was £28. I had no qualms in paying as the food and service was impeccable.

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"It’s polite to leave a tip or pay service charge. If you feel that way never go to America."

Danielle Birt commented: "It's always been the case, you don't have to pay it, it's optional."

Others say service charges should not be put on the bill as standard.

Sian Evans said: "Yes, it’s polite to leave a certain percentage - I always do myself, but it shouldn’t be presumptuously placed on the bill.

"It is done that way because although you can have it removed, it relies on people not noticing or not being confident enough in doing so, whether they don’t know they can or feel they can.

"If something is optional it should be up to the person to decide from the offset."

Amy Wilkowski commented: "When eating at a restaurant surely you expect the food to be good? So why should we pay extra for something that is a basic requirement.

"Also you are tipping the waitress/waiter so if they aren’t very good why tip?"

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Resident Stephen Menear questioned where the extra money actually goes, when he said: "Does the service charge actually go to the staff or does it just get swallowed up by the business straight into their own pockets ?"

But resident Susi Taylor said not tipping waiters is simply 'rude'.

She commented: "This is totally normal. I think it says a lot that you were with a group of people getting your food freshly cooked and brought to your table, and your group were all too cheap to tip?  

"Yeah, that's rude."

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