Episode 10

With direct flights from Cardiff, Guernsey was an ideal holiday choice for Cowbridge family Andrew and Charlotte Lord, and their two children Abigail and James.

Andrew said: “The reason why we chose the Channel Islands is that it’s very convenient, so we could fly from Cardiff. The weather is warmer, it’s a slower pace of life, there’s more sunshine and it would be just a great place to be able to take the kids.”

The family booked return flights with low-cost airline Flybe, at a cost of £260.

After a 10 day stay on the island in August last year, the family went to the airport to head home. But then the problems started.

Andrew explained: “They cancelled the flight and got us to go and collect all the bags. The man in the Flybe uniform, said please come to our desk, which is the Flybe desk. We then were given three options:

“We stay another night and we fly back the following evening. We get a full refund. Or we fly back to Bristol via Jersey later that day, which is the option we chose.”

Andrew says FlyBe staff assured him he would be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses and gave him a leaflet on how to make his claim.

When they returned to the UK five hours later than planned, the family paid for a taxi back to Cowbridge.

The re-route and delay had left them £155 out of pocket, so they contacted FlyBe to ask for these costs to be compensated.

But instead Andrew was told that FlyBe had not operated the flight – it had been their partner airline Blue Island – and that he should contact them. When he got in touch with Blue Islands, he was told that because the company is based in the Channel Islands, so outside the EU, it isn’t governed by European travel law. And that means it doesn’t have to stick to the same compensation rules as UK based airlines.

Blue Islands told Andrew he wasn’t entitled to any of his expenses back. It’s a situation that has left him frustrated.

He said: “The boarding passes said Flybe, the desk was Flybe, the uniforms were Flybe, the planes were Flybe. We had absolutely no idea that it was Blue Islands. We assumed we were flying with Flybe!”

And the Lord family weren’t the only ones left confused. X-Ray spoke to two other FlyBe customers who were left in the same position after their flights back from Guernsey to Cardiff were cancelled.

If you look closely at FlyBe’s booking site, it does say that Blue Islands operate some flights. But with FlyBe’s logo everywhere it’s easy to see why these passengers assumed they were flying with the UK based airline.

Andrew said: “I was told that by their staff dressed in Flybe uniform, at a Flybe desk with a Flybe piece of paper. To then say I’m not able to get those costs returned because I accepted a re-route is completely unfair. And they should change that. They should give me my costs back.”

Blue Islands told us they apologised for the confusion caused by the cancellation of these flights. They said customers booking online are asked to read and agree to the Blue Islands terms and conditions and that their booking systems were always being reviewed to ensure the process was as clear as possible.

The Mersey Gateway Bridge opened with much excitement in October 2017.

With six lanes, the 2.3-kilometer-long bridge shortens journeys into Liverpool and costing more than £600million to build – it’s no surprise that drivers have to pay to use it.

Ian Taylor from Penrhyn Bay, Llandudno was expecting to fork out a few quid when he first used the new crossing, days after it opened back in October.

Ian said: “I was going to Liverpool Airport, taking my wife on the 18th of October about 4.30 and obviously knew we were going on the new bridge.”

At two pounds each way for cars, the cost of the crossing seemed reasonable. As Ian approached the bridge, he was poised, cash in hand, ready to pay.  But there was a problem.

There was no toll booth. Instead, drivers are expected to pay for the toll online, according to a road sign. The problem is a lot of people didn’t see it – including Ian.

He said: “To a driver who’s going fifty miles an hour, it wasn’t visible at all. You’ve gone past it before you’ve even thought about it. If you had seen it, you couldn’t remember it.”

The following week, he received an unwelcome surprise in the post. Ian had received two penalty charges at £20 a time for failing to pay the toll on time.

And it’s not just Ian. The new bridge has taken its TOLL on many other drivers from Wales.

Valerie and Dave Siviter from Bethesda also received two penalty charges, when Dave drove her to Liverpool Airport to spend a week with their grandchildren in France.

Valerie said: “We got onto the bridge and it said Mersey Toll. So I got my purse out and thought we’ll have to pay somewhere. And we found nowhere to pay, so we tootled off to Liverpool, my husband dropped me, I flew off to France and he went home.”

When the first penalty charge arrived in the post Valerie tried in vain to have it cancelled.

Valerie told X-Ray: “I expressed my dissatisfaction. That it was not very well signed, it was not very well clear and I thought lots of other people from North Wales would be caught out by this as well.”

The tolls are run by the company Merseyflow. They say you can pay online or by phone. You can also pay at a walk-in centre in Runcorn or in thousands of shops with the payzone sign. But you must pay before midnight the day after you cross the bridge. But unlike every other toll bridge in Wales, you can’t pay in cash through your car window.

It’s estimated that in the first five weeks of opening, 50,000 penalty charge notices were sent out. Valerie is unimpressed.

“There’s got to be something wrong with their system that they can collect so much revenue in such a short time and they should be aware that something isn’t working right,” she said.

A quick search on social media reveals many other people expressing similar anger at Merseyflow’s managing of the situation.

Ian believes the toll system needs to be better publicised and Valerie is adamant the signage needs improvement.

She said: It’s really badly signed, particularly for people who don’t use technology a lot and don’t use the area very often. We obviously wouldn’t have gone without paying if we could’ve avoided it, but didn’t feel it was very clear to us what you should do.”

We asked Merseyflow about this and they told us that of around 5 million bridge crossings so far, more than 95% of drivers have paid their tolls on time. They insist that ‘free flow’ tolling is quicker and easier than toll booths. As for the lack of signs, they say they have responded to feedback, increased signage near the bridge and on the wider network and say their publicity campaign continues.

Ways to pay the Merseyflow toll charge:

-          Online at https://www.merseyflow.co.uk (24 hours a day; 7 days a week)

-          By phone on 01928 878 878 (8am-8pm Mon-Fri; 9am-6pm Sat, Sun and Bank Holidays). You can also pay for a journey you’ve already made on this number 24-7.

-          In person at Merseyflow’s walk-in centre at Howard Court, Manor Park, Runcorn, WA7 1SJ  (8am-8pm Mon-Fri; 9am-6pm Sat, Sun and Bank Holidays)

-          In person at one of 10,000 Payzone outlets across the country

You will need to give your vehicle registration when you pay.

Whether it’s a dating fraud or a property trickster, scammers often persuade their victims to send money using a wire transfer service, like Western Union.

That’s what happened to kennel owner Sara Millward from Llanidloes in 2010, after she replied to a newspaper advert for mystery shoppers.

Sara said: “Everything about it fitted with me because I'm self-employed so that was ideal. I didn't have to answer to anybody, only think oh yes, can leave the kennels today, oh yes, I can fit that around it.”

Her first job as a mystery shopper was to review a branch of Western Union. Sara was sent a cheque for £2500 to cover the cost of the 'test transfer'. But after she'd wired the money, she realised she'd been scammed!

Sara said: “The first cheque came back as fraud and then that's when the whole sorry mess kicked in and I realised I'd been duped. Which made that particular account over 3k overdrawn.”

It's a heartbreaking situation for Sara - who was left picking up the pieces.

She said: “The money that they've taken I can't pay it back. I've been a victim of a very very clever scam...I'm just a person who wanted to earn a bit of extra money to pay people to make a comfortable life. To make life a bit more comfier for us.”

We asked Alison Farrar from Trading Standards about what has now changed.

She explained: “There's been a court case in America that's found Western Union has violated US anti fraud laws and that they need to pay some money back to victims. So there's a chance now if you were a victim you could get some money back.”

If you were scammed between the 1st January 2004 and the 19th January 2017, then you have a short time to make the claim. It needs to be in by the 12th February this year.

To claim, you can go directly to the Western Union website www.westernunionremission.com or you link to it through genuine websites like Action Fraud or Trading Standards. Alison does warn that some scammers have set up fake claim websites. She says the genuine claim form will not ask for your bank details, although you will need the details of the original transaction.

At least 600 people from Wales are being contacted by Action Fraud, because they reported a Western Union money transfer scam to them. However Alison believes many more people in Wales could be affected – and might be able to make a claim for compensation.