Making off without payment is a statutory offence in England and Wales, Northern Ireland , Republic of Ireland and Hong Kong. It was first introduced on the recommendation of the Criminal Law Revision Committee and is intended to protect legitimate business concerns and applies where goods are supplied or a service is performed on the basis that payment will be made there and then. A taxi passenger who runs off without paying the fare at the end of the journey; and a motorist who fills up with petrol at a garage and drives off when the attendant is distracted. For these purposes, it must be proved that the defendant knew that payment on the spot was required or expected, and made off dishonestly with intent to avoid payment of the amount due.

Prior to the creation of the offence, running off might be a tort but it was not a crime; the supplier would have to bring a civil law suit against the recipient. The use of criminal law is intended to avoid this expense. To be a theft, the goods must belong to another when the appropriation occurs. A Sale of Goods Act determines when the ownership of goods passes. If the goods are being ascertained as part of the contract, title will pass when the goods are identified or measured. In a garage, it will occur when the fuel is measured as it passes through the pump into the car's tank. Similarly, if ownership passed before an intention to avoid payment was formed, no crime was committed. This became too common an event and so the law had to be clarified to enable convictions to be obtained despite civil law niceties.