The 21-year-old Latvian customer ordered and drank 16 beers, paying for each one by card payment – which is not standard practice in Germany, where card payments in general are widely shunned in favour of cash.

The matter escalated into a row when the man tried to make the 16th payment, Bayerischer Rundfunk reports.

The landlord of the pub in Mamming, Bavaria told police that each transaction incurred a fee of around 20 cents.

Police established that no offence had been committed. The customer, however, was banned from the premises.

There is no obligation under German law for business owners to accept card payments.