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Making off without payment

s.3Theft Act 1978

Dishonestly leaving without paying on the spot for goods or a service, knowing payment is required or expected, intending to avoid payment.

Making off without payment · Theft Act 1978, s.3Card 15 / 85

Points to prove

Payment on the spot – s.3(2): includes payment at the time of collecting goods on which work has been done or for which a service has been provided (for example, collecting a car from a garage).
Goods – s.34(2)(b) of the Theft Act 1968 (applied by s.5(2)): money and every other description of property except land, including things severed from the land by stealing.
Dishonestly – the Ivey v Genting (2017) test, applied in R v Barton and Booth (2020): the defendant’s actual knowledge or belief, then whether the conduct was dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people.
Makes off – leaves the place where payment is required.
Intent to avoid payment – means an intention to avoid paying permanently. Intending only to delay or defer payment is not enough (R v Allen 1985).

s.3(3): the offence does not apply where supplying the goods or doing the service is against the law, or where payment for the service is not legally enforceable.

Typical examples: driving off from a petrol station without paying, leaving a restaurant or taxi without paying.
There is no need to prove any deception. The dishonest intent can form after the goods or service have been supplied.
If a person is dishonest from the start (for example, ordering a meal never intending to pay), fraud by false representation may also apply.

Legislation: Theft Act 1978, s.3 (opens legislation.gov.uk in a new tab)
Mode of trial: Either way
Maximum penalty: 2 years' imprisonment (on indictment); 12 months' imprisonment and/or a fine (summarily)