Malmaison mistakenly charges man £55,000 for one beer

A cricket journalist in Manchester to cover the Ashes has been charged £55,000 for a beer in the city’s Malmaison hotel.

Peter Lalor thought he was buying a £5.50 Deuchars IPA but was charged £55,315.12. When the mistake was identified the money had already left his account and Lalor was told that it would take 10 business days for it to be returned.

The journalist, who writes for The Australian newspaper, told the BBC that he had a “sixth sense that something had gone wrong”.

He added: “Australians find England pretty expensive usually, but this takes the cake.

“That’s a lot of money. I’m just a cricket writer, I don’t earn big bucks and it’s costing me in interest.”

Detailing the error on Twitter, he said: “I didn’t have my reading glasses when she presented me with a bill. I said I didn’t want a receipt and she went to leave.

“Something, however, made me ask: ‘How much did I just pay for that beer?’ She checked, covered her mouth, started to giggle and refused to tell me, saying only there had been a mistake and she would fix it.

“She kept giggling. I told her it needed to be fixed and fixed right now.

“She ran to get her manager who took the situation far more seriously and went about attempting to arrange a refund. She told me somebody would be in contact.”

Malmaison said that an investigation had been launched.