REGULARS at a Kendal pub confronted two strangers who tried to trick bar staff in a ‘ringing the change’ scam.

Late night customers were enjoying last orders at The Riflemans Arms when two men ‘boldly’ entered and asked if they could change £20 notes into a smaller denomination.

But it quickly became clear that the men were attempting a fraud when the landlady noticed some of the notes had been spirited away.

The men were immediately confronted by landlord Paul Rollinson and two locals John Scott and Dave Bainbridge.

They locked the doors to prevent the men escaping and the scammers were forced to cough up £40 in £10 notes that one of the men had put in his pocket.

Fearing a confrontation, the men were then allowed to leave - but Mr Rollinson’s attempt to alert the police with a 999 call so they could be caught fell on deaf ears and the suspects got clean away.

However, Mr Rollinson revealed the suspects’ images were captured on the pub’s CCTV.

Now Cumbria Police say they are looking at their response to the events of Friday, February 1, and whether they could have done things differently.

Mr Scott said: “When the men walked in they looked out of place. Certainly not from the area and immediately you take notice and wonder who they are.”

Mr Rollinson, who was also at the bar, said the men had at least £200 made up of £20 notes.

Suspicion was alerted when they demanded smaller change than £10 notes, including coins.

Mel, the landlady, declined and asked for the £10 notes already handed over to be returned.

When the men gave back the money, Mel found she was £40 short.

“Our ears pricked up when Mel asked for the men to return all of the money,” said Mr Scott.

“That’s when we realised something was wrong.”

Mr Bainbridge then locked the front door to prevent the men from leaving.

“Dave and I stood behind the men,” said Mr Rollinson. “The game was up for them- we knew what they were trying to do, it’s not uncommon.”

Eventually one of the men took out the tenners that had gone ‘missing’ and placed it back on the bar.

“It was like a neat card trick,” said Mr Scott, who was standing next to one of the men.

“The notes were scrunched up in his pockets, such a sly hand.”

Following their ordeal, the landlord unlocked the door and let the men leave empty handed but immediately called the police.

Mr Rollinson said he feared the incident would get out of hand and that one of his loyal customers might “try to be the hero” and make a citizen’s arrest, with potentially a physical bust-up occurring.

“I called 999 and was ready to give them a description,” said Mr Rollinson.

“When the call handler said that it was not an emergency but instead to call 101, I was taken aback.”

Mr Rollinson said he was furious and ‘disheartened’ following their response and did not make the 101 call because he thought it would be “a waste of time”.

“I understand the police are very busy but we had just been a targeted and in my eyes it was still happening.

“The men could have returned - we were lucky it didn’t spiral out of control,” he said.

“I just don’t understand how this was not an emergency. We had given them an opportunity to catch these criminals.”

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The landlord added he was worried that one of the regulars would feel brave and try to physically stop the men.

A Cumbria Police spokesperson said that the landlord had done the right thing by calling 999.

“We take all reports of crime seriously,” he said, adding that an officer was to visit Mr Rollinson to discuss the incident.

“The offenders who carried out the alleged attempted fraud had left at the time of the call. So this would not normally lead to our highest priority response, which is used, for example, when a crime is in progress or it is a potentially life-threatening incident.

“However, it is not our policy to tell people who have called 999 to call back on 101. and in this case the caller had done the right thing. We are grateful for this being brought to our attention and will be looking into our response to this report.”