A woman who was offered a free meal after her car was damaged at a garage ran up a £714 bill at a swanky London restaurant.

Siobhan Yap, 27, took her mother to Michelin-starred eatery L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon after her Audi A3 was hit by a delivery lorry while parked on the Watford Audi forecourt.

The pair racked up a £714.61 bill – which was described as “excessive” by the car dealership, which offered to pay half.

But Ms Yap defended her choice of restaurant and said the Bushey-based garage “should have specified a limit”.

She told the BBC “It’s just the way they handled everything was very, very poor.

“A lot of time went into sorting something that should not have happened. It was all the scratches and the customer service, which was unacceptable.

“If you’re going to offer something like that, especially a name that reputable, it’s not my responsibility to know the company policy. They should’ve sorted it.

“Also when something like this happens and you get an offer like that, for me it’s a once in a lifetime thing. I’m not going to go there every day.”

Ms Yap and her mother enjoyed four glasses of champagne, two bottles of wine, six cocktails and several “small tasting dishes”.

The garage repaired Ms Yap’s convertible, gave her a courtesy car and had offered to cover the cost of a meal to apologise.

Watford Audi said the £714 bill was "excessive expenditure for two diners", but as it was "keen to make amends” it agreed to cover half of the cost for each diner.

The firm added: “We believe this is a fair and reasonable amount given the circumstances.”