Two British tourists have been arrested in Majorca while trying to fly home – after allegedly leaving their holiday hotel without paying a £160 bill.

The pair were put behind bars before having to shell out for new flights after being intercepted at Palma Airport and hauled to court to explain themselves.

They ended up handing over the €192 they had allegedly tried to wriggle out of paying before being allowed to leave and buy new tickets home.

A police source said: “Everyone was a bit surprised that they’d wanted to cause themselves so many problems over a relatively small amount.

“We’d have handled things exactly the same if they’d tried to do a runner without paying a four or five figure bill but getting yourself into this sort of mess over a couple of hundred euros makes you wonder what they were thinking about. It backfired on them spectacularly.”

The unnamed couple, aged 22 and 21, had been staying at a hotel in the resort of Palmanova next to Magaluf.

They headed straight to the airport after telling a receptionist they were going to get money out of a cash machine when they checked out.

The hotel manager alerted police after they failed to return, leading to the couple’s arrest on suspicion of fraud.

They spent a night in a police cell following their detention before being hauled to court in the island capital the following day.

The case against them was closed on Thursday after they handed over the cash they were accused of failing to pay.

Last month a couple were accused of leaving an Italian restaurant at the Bella Ciao restaurant in Port Talbot near Swansea without paying the £329 bill.

They feasted on expensive steaks, double desserts and 15 bottles of fizzy drinks as part of a large group of eight.

Reports at the time claimed they had previously ‘done runners’ at seven restaurants across Wales.