Smoking "Fine" from CRS re Travelodge

[paul_s]

going through the same crap here off these merchants. CRS threatening to take me to court. will let you know what correspondence has occurred if anyone wants to be kept up to date with proceedings

Edited November 20, 2012 by honeybee13
Removing pejorative words

[Bazooka Boo]

Inform them of all the dates your available to go to court, if they are so stupid to carry out their puerile threat then you will be able to counter claim against them, they have been shown up for this fraudulent activity before.

 

Lodge complaints to Trading standards, BBC Watchdog, your local press and the national papers, I guarantee they will stop misleading when they realise the impact of committing fraud will have on their ailing company.

[paul_s]

Dear Mrs xxxxxx

 

As i have already stated, neither me nor my partner smoked in the room, and when we left the room there were certainly no cigarette ends in the toilet. If your Client is stating this, they are misleading, plain and simple. I suggest that you do refer the matter back to your client and take the opportunity to remind them that submitting false evidence in court constitutes perjury.

 

Section 1(1) of the Perjury Act 1911 states '...[who] wilfully makes a statement material to that proceeding which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true shall be guilty of perjury...and shall on conviction thereof on indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years, or to a fine or to both...'

 

As your client and yourselves have both been disgraced on national television for sending letters to your clients customers with false claims of breaches, I feel the balance of probability will not be in your favour as the Judge/Magistrate if he/she has not seen the program, will certainly be made aware of it by myself.

 

I would appreciate it if you stop sending me these letters containing false allegations and stop wasting my time.

 

Yours Sincerely

Edited November 20, 2012 by honeybee13
Removing poyentially problematic words.

[paul_s]

this is going in the post to CRS in the morning

[Bazooka Boo]

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/section/2

 

It fraud plain and simple

Fraud by false representation[/b]

 

(1)A person is in breach of this section if he—

(a)dishonestly makes a false representation, and

(b)intends, by making the representation—

(i)to make a gain for himself or another, or

(ii)to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.

(2)A representation is false if—

(a)it is untrue or misleading, and

(b)the person making it knows that it is, or might be, untrue or misleading.

(3)“Representation” means any representation as to fact or law, including a representation as to the state of mind of—

(a)the person making the representation, or

(b)any other person.

(4)A representation may be express or implied.

]

 

Besides CRS are redundant, they can't do anything, ignore them deal direct with the foolish travel lodge and make them aware that, should they continue with their vexatious claims you will gladly see them in court and will counter sue.

[paul_s]

Thanks for the advise Bazooka. will take it all on board. I almost hope it actually does end up in court so i can explain to a magistrate what a bunch CRS and travelodge are.

[ims21]

Paul,

 

I've moved your posts to a thread of your own to save hijacking.

[paul_s]

no probs IMS. by the way, has one of these attempts by travelodge/CRS ever actually gone to court does anyone know?

[ims21]

I am not aware of any myself.

 

Also please be careful with your wording

[paul_s]

OK cheers, thats good to know. I'll try, not easy though when you're fuming, lol

[paul_s]

any feedback if the letter sent is a good idea or not would be very much appreciated

[ims21]

If it were me I would just send something short and sweet like this perhaps

 

Dear Sirs

 

Any liability to you or your client is denied. No further correspondence will be entered into.

 

Yours etc.

[Bazooka Boo]

Yep, short & sweet.

 

There is zero they can do, most people have simply folded under the pressure from their cleverly worded threat letters so they have never needed to take legal action, besides I seriously seriously doubt they will ever be able to substantiate any such claim, fraud is a very big offence.

 

Send ims' letters above, just obtain "Proof of Posting" from the PO counter for your records, oh and send it 2nd class, this trivial matter doesn't merit 60pence.

 

Then make all of those complaints. And it will be CRS using the highway robbery 'civil recovery scheme' to attempt forcing you to pay.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mg74/features/travelodge-fines

 

You can always go onto TripAdvisor and forewarn any potential customers http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g187067-d193453-r128554887-Travelodge-Doncaster_South_Yorkshire_England.html

[Yukiko]

I wonder if the maids and cleaners that report this to management get a commission from every case that gets paid up... It seems that staff are all too quick to lie about occurances when the liklihood of anybody smoking inside these days is rather low due to the law!

[cw4444]

My daughter and her boyfriend were accused of smoking in a Travelodge on the 24 September 12. I received a claim for £150 because it was me who had booked the room. When I told my daughter I was just going to pay the fine because of the threat of going to court she pleaded with me not to because they had done nothing wrong, and when my daughter does this I know for sure that she's telling the truth. I have received a few letters since from UKCRS threatening me with a court summons so I'm just waiting for the letter to arrive. I have notified the newspapers and citizens advice bureau about this problem with Travelodge and received heartwarming news that the newspaper was prepared to help me. They rang me asking if I'd mind having my picture taken and then told me they were going to contact Travelodge. Never heard anything back though.....YET!

I'll keep you's posted if anything happens because I'm determined that Travelodge are not allowed to continue with this malpractice!

[Bazooka Boo]

Make as many complaints and as much noise as possible, writing to the CEO if needs be, BBC Watchdog, your local MP, and name and shame the actual Travel lodge that has falsely accused your daughter of smoking in the room. You won't go to court, they would never ever be able to provide any proof of this, besides it's a civil offence, seriously consider taking legal action against them.

[cw4444]

As you can see below, Travelodge is already in financial difficulties and they are trying to make money from any means possible...even if it is fraudulent!

In February 2012, DIC ( Dubai International Capital) had to prepare a bailout package due to a significant debt of £478 million that was added to Travelodge's balance sheet following its purchase, and despite significant earnings since 2006, these could not cover the debt repayments and the company recorded a debt of £517m in 2011.[10] The company undertook a financial restructure during April 2012 with ownership passing to New York-based hedge funds Goldentree Asset Management and Avenue Capital Group, as well as Goldman Sachs.[11] On 17 August 2012 Travelodge UK confirmed[12] the financial restructuring would be through a company voluntary arrangement which would include;

 

• At least £75m of new money being injected into the Company
  
• £55m being invested into a major refurbishment programme across the estate covering over 11,000 rooms and 175 hotels. The refurbishment programme will commence in early 2013 and continue through to summer 2014
  
• Bank debt of £235m will be written off and £71m repaid, reducing total bank debt from £635m to £329m.
  

However, Travelodge also stated that it was no longer viable to operate 49 hotels (8% of the estate), for which the company would now seek new operators.