Court success thread

flymeaway

Cheque arrived today from TC in payment for flight delay they kept telling me was due to EC and therefore no monies payable. After much to-ing and fro-ing with them and the CAA (useless, sorry but no other way to say it though they are probably overwhelmed with claims in their defence), I decided to go the Small Claims Court route - on first filing their defence they continued to claim EC on the outbound flight (yes, my inbound flight was delayed also). Finally after much more to-ing and fro-ing with the court a date was set and hey presto they re-file their defence to say they will no longer defend on the outbound flight and therefore my compensation is finally due - am very happy with this.

However, we still have the inbound to sort out and I'm busy preparing my papers - no matter what happens from here on in I'm the winner since my costs will also get paid when we get to court as it has taken up till the date setting of the court appearance to get TC to "fess up" and admit their shortcomings.

Happy Days.

A message for all those of you out there who are wondering whether or not to pursue them - do it, they rely on the fact that people won't bother. If you can't be bothered or the thought of doing-it-yourself is a little daunting, then appoint a NWNF firm to act for you - work on the basis that something back is better than nothing

Davidvgoliath

Another victory - in court this time - posted on its own thread, see thread titled 'Thompson Claims Success In Court'



An excellent result.....

gazzer82

Just wanted to post a quick update to say i have just got back from the V Festival, opened my post, and found a cheque for £793.94 from Virgin Atlantic, this was two weeks after filing my MCOL.

Obviously in the letter they are stating that this is not them accepting liability, but that's fine with me, so once the cheque clears i can cancel the action

Thanks all on here for the help, hopefully this will encourage some people to power through and not be afraid to file a claim if you feel it's legitimate!

What a good weekend

Cheers

Gareth

111KAB

Many congratulations mistersneezy - great report and thanks for the thanks!

mistersneezy

See Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Thomson ONLY post no 2453 (am not allowed to post links here as I'm a newbie...)

Took 9 months, but they paid eventually just before we were due to go to court.

JPears

:j:beer::j

Davidvgoliath

Regrettably I must report that at my small claims hearing last week, the judge found in favour of Thomas Cook.

After a three year battle for compensation I feel thoroughly let down by the system, for reason explained below.

My flight was from Calgary (Canada) to Manchester in February 2010. At no point did Thomas Cook give a proper explanation for the delay of 12 hours until I received their court bundle 14 days before the hearing. Their court bundle included witness statements from a full time EU261 investigator and their Power Plant Engineer.

What I found out was that the Airbus destined to fly passengers out to Calgary, and on which we were due to return, had been grounded on the previous flight to Cuba the day before. Long story short, there was a problem with the VSV control unit in one of the planes engines, and TC had to fly an engineer out to Cuba to fix it.

They therefore took one of their other long haul aircraft, a Boeing 767, to service the Manchester - Calgary flight. the problem was though that the second crew waiting in Calgary were not qualified to fly the Boeing back to Manchester, because TC don't cross train their flight crews. The crew that flew the plane out therefore had to rest for 12 hours before flying back.

Also in the court bundle was the 'preliminary list of extraordinary circumstances' released a few weeks before by various NEB's.

In the hearing, I argued that the technical fault could not be relied upon under the Wallentin-Hermann judgement. However the judge seemed to place great importance in number 24 of the aforementioned list, despite my repeated protestations that this was not yet law, and WH was.

As a secondary defence, TC were looking to try and get the case thrown out by arguing that Graham v Thomas Cook meant I was not entitled to take the matter to court, but of course we never got that far.

I feel bitterly let down by the judge. In my view, she clearly had not read any of the material I had sent her (the same material Thomas Cook sent by the way, so she had it twice), particularly the WH judgement.

TC sent a barrister, who by the way handed me a skeleton argument minutes before we went into court. Also present were the investigator and the engineer (their top power plant engineer), all of whom had to come over from Manchester.

So, my conclusion. I feel the law let me down, but I have the satisfaction that I was a complete pain in the rear to TC for three years. Also, my guess is that it cost them far, far more to defend the case than the 600 euros x 2 I originally claimed, and I lost about £150, which I can easily afford. And I tied up several of their people in court/travel/preparing lengthy witness statements and other material for long periods of time, which gives me some measure of satisfaction.

Would I do it again? Yes, in a heartbeat. It was an interesting exercise, and I learnt a great deal, and I let TC know that their 'customers' will not be treated with the contempt they clearly showed, and WE WILL FIGHT BACK FOR OUR RIGHTS.

Oh, and as others have observed, I will never, ever travel with TC again, and I have told dozens of people about their shoddy treatment, so ultimately, their loss. We alone take 4 holidays a year, mostly long haul, so their loss through the coming years is greater than mine.

Ultimately, it is my view that TC might be out of the long grass, but they will never survive with their contemptuous attitude for their customers rights.

I would like to thank all those on this forum for their invaluable advice and encouragement, particularly Centipede100.

If anyone is reading this contemplating litigation, please, please dont give up. The odds are on your side and may you have every success.

JPears

Davidvgoliath wrote: »

Regrettably I must report that at my small claims hearing last week, the judge found in favour of Thomas Cook.

............

Ultimately, it is my view that TC might be out of the long grass, but they will never survive with their contemptuous attitude for their customers rights.

I would like to thank all those on this forum for their invaluable advice and encouragement, particularly Centipede100.

If anyone is reading this contemplating litigation, please, please dont give up. The odds are on your side and may you have every success.

Feel for you mate. The complete lack of understanding by the judges and siding with the "big boys" because they have a barrister and "expert" witnesses is truly shocking. Makes a sham of the whole small claims track. How is the average man or woman in the street supposed to get justice in this one sided system?
So here you have a case where TC:
1. Chose send a different type of aircraft
2. Chose not to cross train their air crew
3. Chose not to send 2 767 aircrew so the rested crew could fly back. All are operational decisions that are the precise reason Reg 261/2004 came into being! When are judges (and the airlines) going to understand that the point of Reg261/2004 is carrot and stick ie make your airline run more effectively for the passenger, who pays for the service (or lack of) or face penalties. At least they have that choice - play fair or pay up. In my profession rules and regs are laid down and must be adhered without choice or options. Any failures and I pay dearly.

sging1

Davidvgoliath wrote: »

Regrettably I must report that at my small claims hearing last week, the judge found in favour of Thomas Cook.

If anyone is reading this contemplating litigation, please, please dont give up. The odds are on your side and may you have every success.

There are a lot of grey areas in this case and I think a strong case to appeal. There are appeals that are now winning the second time around even when the CAA rulles in the airlines favour.

richardw

Davidvgoliath wrote: »

...I feel bitterly let down by the judge. In my view, she clearly had not read any of the material I had sent her (the same material Thomas Cook sent by the way, so she had it twice), particularly the WH judgement.....

Another report of a Judge who appears not to be doing their job, very worrying.