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■ Travel firms warned over refund delays
PACKAGE holiday firms have been ordered to stop misleading and delaying refunds for tens of thousands of customers, as the UK ends its quarantine requirement for travellers arriving from dozens of countries.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had received more than 17,500 complaints from consumers about the way businesses in the sector were handling cancellations caused by the pandemic.
It has written to more than 100 companies it has received the most complaints about, warning them it will take enforcement action unless they start following consumer law.
The CMA stated the customers had faced a series of problems in relation to trips that could not go ahead because of the virus.
These included being offered a voucher or re-booking instead of a refund, lost deposits and cancellation fees, and refunds taking longer than 14 days.
The watchdog stated that full cash refunds should be provided ‘promptly and without undue delay’.
Under consumer law, customers whose package holidays were cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions should have their money returned within 14 days.
The relaxation of the UK’s quarantine policy for arrivals came into force today.
The government has published a list of 75 countries and territories from which people can return to or visit England without movement restrictions.
The Welsh government and the Northern Ireland Executive are taking the same approach, but the Scottish government has not included Spain on its list.
■ ‘Six in ten uncomfortable eating indoors at restaurants’
THE government’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme may struggle to entice diners after a survey revealed more than half of adults feel uncomfortable about eating indoors at a restaurant.
Only a fifth surveyed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said they would be comfortable or very comfortable doing so, with 60 per cent disagreeing in the poll of 1,788 Brits.
Pubs and restaurants in England were able to re-open last Saturday and the meal deal announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak this week hopes to get more people dining out in August to help the economy recover.
Half-price meals will be offered to diners eating out every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during August.
Women were more likely than men, and older people more likely than younger adults, to feel uncomfortable with eating at a restaurant indoors, the ONS said.
Two thirds of the over-70s are uncomfortable with the idea compared with 59 per cent of those aged 16-69.
UKHospitality, which represents the sector, said: ‘Businesses have been working hard to reopen and to get the reopening right.
‘We have produced detailed guidance to make sure that staff and customers are made as safe as possible.’
Pubs, restaurants, bars and cafes in Wales could reopen indoors on August 3, the first minister has suggested.
Mark Drakeford said indoor service would be allowed as long as the state of coronavirus in the country permitted, and the lifting of restrictions on outdoor hospitality was a success.
■ Royal Mail fined £1.5m for failing to deliver first-class post on time
ROYAL MAIL has been hit with a £1.5million fine by the communications regulator for failing to deliver first-class post on time.
Ofcom said it missed its target to deliver at least 93 per cent of first-class post across the UK within one working day of it being collected.
In the financial year ending in 2019, 91.5 per cent of first-class post reached its destination on time, Ofcom said.
The company met its obligations the following financial year, Ofcom confirmed.
The watchdog said it handed out the hefty fine as the group did not provide a ‘satisfactory explanation and it did not take sufficient steps to get back on track during the year’.
Royal Mail said it was ‘disappointed’ with its first-class postal service for the 2018-19 year and ‘accepts and understands’ the decision.
It added: ‘We worked hard to restore our service quality in 2019-20 and, were it not for the pandemic and its impact on our business in the latter half of March, we were on course to deliver the requisite first-class regulated quality-of-service target of 93 per cent.
‘Despite our best endeavours, some areas of the UK experienced a reduction in service levels during March.’
The regulator also fined Royal Mail £100,000 for overcharging customers for second-class stamps for seven days in March last year.
Gaucho Rasmussen, Ofcom’s director of investigations and enforcement, said: ‘Many people depend on postal services, and our rules are there to ensure they get a good service at an affordable price.’
■ Man jailed for trying to steal priceless Magna Carta
A 47-YEAR-OLD man has been jailed for four years for trying to steal a ‘priceless’ version of the Magna Carta.
Mark Royden, of Canterbury, Kent, was convicted of using a hammer to smash the security case holding the historic document at Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire.
He was found guilty at Salisbury crown court of attempted theft of the Magna Carta and criminal damage to the display case.
The trial heard Royden (above) scoped the cathedral for a route avoiding CCTV cameras and came equipped with a hammer, gloves and safety goggles.
Before smashing the security case in the Chapter House holding the artefact, Royden turned a CCTV camera in a failed bid to avoid being recorded and set off a fire alarm as a distraction, the court heard.
After his attack on the case, he was pursued by ‘good-spirited’ members of the public including two American tourists, cathedral staff and stonemasons who detained him.
Sentencing Royden, judge Richard Parkes QC said: ‘Magna Carta is a document of huge importance to our country and many other countries that share our democratic traditions.’
He added: ‘This was a determined attempt on a document of huge historical importance.’
Salisbury Cathedral’s version of the Magna Carta is one of four that remain in existence from the original 1215 charter.
It established for the first time that neither monarch nor government was above the law and set out principles of liberty.
