lawyers & soliciters

HXDave

hi all,

not sure if this is the right place to ask or not, but if anyone can help i would be extremely grateful.

We all see the personal injury lawyers & soliciters advertising on TV their no fee service (win or lose). does anyone know of any soliciters who will take a case on under similar circumstances. Its not a personal injury claim or anything like that, however a claim against an airline. I feel that it is a cast iron case and once legal proceedings start there will be no problems in winning the case (naturally, lawyer or soliciter is quite welcome to review the case and decide for themselves). i have tried hopelessly through all my channels, and feel court action is the only way, however for me its the up front costs. Perhaps if a soliciter / lawyer was prepared to take the case on with a no fee basis, they could add their charges to the amount being persued from the company.

anyone ever heard of this being done or, more importantly, anyone who would consider taking it on?

Kind regards


HXDave

wealdroam

How about Small Claims Court?
Is it suitable?

Fee is approx £30, depending on the amount claimed.
Fee is recoverable when you win.

Read about Money Claims Online.

DVardysShadow

If you feel the case is cast iron, it would be worth your while to post a summary here to see if people agree.

HXDave

wealdrome, had a look at small claims court, but a little tricky. Claim is for a friend of mine regarding some flights booked. They were denied boarding, so are entitled to Euro 400 compensation each (2 people). Small claims court has been looked at, but costs could run over £100 if it goes all the way. Yes, i know that these are claimable back when / if win, but its having the money to start with (bearing in mind its not even my case, and my friends are as skint as me) and then the time to organise and sort things.

DV, in a nutshell, a certain airline accepted a reservation for my friends and then refused to allow them to travel on the aircraft. We have confirmation that the flight operated(from the airline), we have confirmation of the reservation (e-mail from airline), we have confirmation that my friends did not travel on the flight (eventually returned to another UK airport much later). Under EU261/2004 Atricle 4 (denied boarding) it clearly states that compensation is dues. And before anyone asks, yes this was around the time of the Volcanic Ashcloud - HOWEVER the reservation was made on the morning of 21/04/10 which was the day that the majority of UK & European airspace opened, the flight that they booked on actually operated, and there is nothing under EU261/2004 Article 4 (denied boarding) that allows an airline to class the situation as 'Extraordinary Circumstances' (as in the case of cancellation, delay etc etc etc.......)

Kind Regards


HXDave

zppp

I suggest that rather than going down the court route and risking losing, you may want to look at this website;

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1776&pagetype=90&pageid=9838

and make a complaint here to the AUC http://www.auc.org.uk/ who will arbitrate between you and the airline free of charge.

HXDave

zppp, the AUC are as much use as a chocolate teapot, and have no authaurative powers whatsoever. The CAA have been more helpful, however as the incident occurred in spain, the CAA cannot investigate. The only 'official' body is the CAA equivalant in spain, and even the guy who advised me that at the CAA said good luck with that.

HXDave

zppp

Well following MSE Martin's advice on the Volcanic Ashcloud;

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2010/04/volcanic-ash-cloud-travel-chaos-your-rights

What if I need to complain?
There are two initial steps to take:

• Step 1. Complain to the airline in writing. State your rights (see the Air Transport Users' Council (AUC) website for full details).
• Step 2. Complain to the AUC. However, it can only help you, but it has no power over carriers.

If that fails you have two further options.

• Try your card company. If you paid by credit card (for flights over £100) or Visa debit card (or Visa credit card for flights under £100).
  
  Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, credit card firms are jointly liable with retailers if something goes wrong, if the item cost over £100 (see the Section 75 Refunds guide).
  
  Visa also operates a chargeback scheme, where it gets your cash back from the retailer's bank if something goes wrong. This is not a legal requirement, but a customer service promise. You must notify your card company within 120 days.
• Go to court. This means complaining via the small claims court.

If you have exhausted the first three options, then court will be the end point. In my opinion, you don't need a solicitor and beleive you should go via MCOL. However, I suggest you send an LBA to follow the pre-action protocols, see the guidance here.

trinity_enigma

I don't really know about these types of circumstances, but I know that when dealing with personal injury a solicitor is only able to claim their costs back from the other side if the claim is worth more than £1000 (except in the case of minors).

I'm not entirely sure about non injury circumstances though however I would not have thought they would be able to deal with it on an entirely no fee basis.

Have you been in contact with the CAB- they may not be able to give you any advice, but I know around us there are some solicitors who run a morning a month where people can book a half hour appointment for free advice. If the solicitors think you have a good case they will tell you and also will let you know if they would deal with it on a no fee basis or tell you if there are any other local solicitors who can help you.

zzzLazyDaisy

You won't find a solicitor to take on this case on a 'no win no fee' basis as they'd have no way of being paid for their time (the case is worth less than £5000, so would have to go through the small claims procedure and the normal rule in the small claims court is that each party pays their own legal costs, apart from the court fee).

With regard to the circumstances - when flights started up again after the volcanic ash cloud, a lot of airlines bumped ticketed passengers for the flight so they could get people home who had been delayed a week or more (I was one of those people and remember the chaos at the airport).

There is a thread on here about your rights if delayed by the volcanic ash cloud - which sounds like what happened to your friend, albeit as a knock-on effect. I suggest you go to that thread as cityboy is extremely helpful and really knows his way around the rules and regulations.

DVardysShadow

HXDave wrote: »

DV, in a nutshell, a certain airline accepted a reservation for my friends and then refused to allow them to travel on the aircraft. We have confirmation that the flight operated(from the airline), we have confirmation of the reservation (e-mail from airline), we have confirmation that my friends did not travel on the flight (eventually returned to another UK airport much later). Under EU261/2004 Atricle 4 (denied boarding) it clearly states that compensation is dues. And before anyone asks, yes this was around the time of the Volcanic Ashcloud - HOWEVER the reservation was made on the morning of 21/04/10 which was the day that the majority of UK & European airspace opened, the flight that they booked on actually operated, and there is nothing under EU261/2004 Article 4 (denied boarding) that allows an airline to class the situation as 'Extraordinary Circumstances' (as in the case of cancellation, delay etc etc etc.......)

Take note of the advice given by others. Obviously, you are too late to claim back through your credit card.

What recompense were you offered at the airport and what correspondence have you had since?

wealdroam

There's a whole sub-board in the Overseas Travel section devoted to this...

The Volcano Travel Chaos Help & Info Board