FUMING tourists have been made to fork out extra at a restaurant after a bizarre music tax was added to their bill.
A group of diners were outraged when they found out they had to pay £1.70 each simply because background music was playing as they ate.
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The four tourists had headed into a quaint bar in Ostuni, southern Italy for some drinks and snacks on August 17.
They shared £17 worth of appetisers alongside cocktails and a fruit juice which added up to another £25 – taking their expected total to £42.
As they tucked in to the tasty food and sipped on the mojitos and negronis the vibes were high.
A DJ was playing some summery tracks which the group all agreed was “very good” as they had a lovely evening together.
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But when they asked the waiter to bring over the bill, the group was hit with a cheeky surprise.
They expected to split the bill four ways and hand over £10.50 each.
When it came time to pay, however, they were all asked to cough up £12.20.
The extra £1.70 per person was charged under “music” on the bill.
When the diners quizzed what exactly they were paying for, they were told it refers to covering the costs of a DJ.
He had been providing background music at the venue all night with the customers unaware they were actually paying for the lowkey performance.
The tourists recalled: “The music was very good, but no one expected to be charged for the background music.”
They confirmed that they were not informed beforehand as they shared an image of the receipt on social media.
It quickly went viral as people debated over if it was fair.
Some users compared the fee to the traditional “coperto” table charge – known as a covered cost in the UK – which is often factored into a service charge fee.
Others were critical of the policy and said the diners should have been informed before they started to eat.
Many speculated over if tourists were actually allowed to decline the music being played and therefore bypass the extra charge.
It comes just days after another controversial tax left an Ibiza bar under fire for charging a diner £10 to hang her handbag on a table hook.
The fuming customer shared the receipt to prove the bizarre fee which was slapped on her check at a sushi restaurant on the Spanish island.
The receipt said she had been charged €12 (£10) for “gancho bolsa” which means “bag hook” as part of her meal on August 5.
The stunned diner added: “When we saw the receipt, we told them it didn’t seem right to pay that much because we hadn’t asked for it.
“They told us we could keep the hook if we wanted.”
