Bankers sacked after £44,000 night out

Five of the six City bankers who spent more than £44,000 on wine to celebrate clinching a deal on the bond markets have paid for the price of their indulgence with their jobs.

The five, from the corporate investment arm of Barclays Bank, have left after being questioned by management about the world's most expensive restaurant meal, eaten last summer at Gordon Ramsay's Petrus restaurant in central London.

Most of the bill was spent on a £12,300 bottle of 1947 Chateau Petrus. It was joined on the bill by a 1945 Petrus at £11,600, and a 1946 Petrus at £9,600. There was also a £9,200 1900 Chateau d'Yquem and a 1982 Montrachet, costing a mere £1,400. The startled restaurant waived the £400 bill for their food.

The bank said at the time that the diners – four of whom were named as Dayanandra Kumar, Mahish Chandra and Iftikhar Hyder, all from London, and Ruth Cove, from New York – had paid for the meal out of their own pockets. The other two were not named.

Mr Hyder, who was said to have been a relative newcomer, was the only member of the group not to have left the bank.