Bailiffs sent to Luton airport. How does it work?

[stevensfo]

I'm sure that everyone felt a small glow of satisfaction when the father got bailiffs to visit Wizz air at Luton airport.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bed ... s-64999557

But how did he do it? Small claims court?

I assume that there is a waiting time to get a refund, but he claimed for more than that amount, i.e. the 'consequential losses'.

So, if you have your flight cancelled and you pay thousands more to get to your destination, can you claim for this? I'm a bit confused about what is and isn't allowed under law.

Is there an easy-to-read 'What to do' guide for folks in a similar position?

Steve

PS If it were Ryanair, could the bailiffs impound those bloody scratchcards?

[AF62]

Is there an easy-to-read 'What to do' guide for folks in a similar position?

https://www.caa.co.uk/passengers/resolv ... ellations/

If you have a flight cancelled then the airline must find you an alternative flight, but most airlines consider this to be finding you a flight on their aircraft which might be fully booked for days or weeks, and thus useless if you are going away for a week.

Are the airlines right with that view, perhaps, but the only way you will find out is by taking them to court.

As for this case, it will have been a classic case of the claim being sent to somewhere where they don’t actually have any staff to deal with such issues and the claim bouncing around in their internal post, and meanwhile the undefended case is ‘won’.

[stevensfo]

Thanks AF62!

So, is this in fact setting a sort of legal precedent that will help others in similar situations?

I do hope so!

Steve

[chas49]

Thanks AF62!

So, is this in fact setting a sort of legal precedent that will help others in similar situations?

I do hope so!

Steve

Simply no. Decisions in the county court do not create precedent.

https://lexlaw.co.uk/solicitors-london/ ... n-binding/

[Clitheroekid]

Thanks AF62!

So, is this in fact setting a sort of legal precedent that will help others in similar situations?

I do hope so!

Steve

Simply no. Decisions in the county court do not create precedent.

https://lexlaw.co.uk/solicitors-london/ ... n-binding/

Not only that, but it's highly unlikely that this was a `decision' in the legal sense.

As AF62 said, the Claim Form was probably sent to the company's registered office, where it was ignored. After about three weeks from the date it was posted by the court the Claimant would have applied for `default judgement', on the basis that the Defendant hadn't indicated any intention to defend the claim within the prescribed 14 day time limit.

The judgement would then have been entered by a court administrative officer as an administrative task.

The claim was therefore never seen by a judge, and is a judgement in name only.