A Bradford firefighter is battling for compensation from a holiday company after a winter break turned into a stay on a building site.

Anthony Gibbons and his wife paid more than £600 to JMC Holidays for a week in an apartment in Tenerife so that she could recover from surgery.

But the couple soon found the promise of a quiet holiday was far from the truth. "I was not told the apartments were the subject of refurbishment," he said. "The row and the banging was going on all day in the block we were in.

"Then on the third morning we were there, the builders started work in the apartment next to us - we were knocked out of our beds at 8am. They were hammering on the wall over our heads - I couldn't believe it."

He said they had intended to spend most of the holiday in or around the apartments - but they found that hard to do.

"I asked JMC for a full refund or another holiday and they have offered me £150. For a company to act as they are doing is not good for the public."

JMC Holidays, which have their customer sevices base in Bradford, said staff had reviewed the case after being contacted by Rights and Wrongs and £150 was the final offer.

A spokesman said: "Although all other customers were advised before travelling of the refurbishment work due to a computer error, Mr and Mrs Gibbons were regrettably not informed prior to their departure.

"Although we are always willing and keen to find an amicable outcome for all parties involved, if Mr and Mrs Gibbons do not wish to accept it, we would recommend they seek third-party arbitration through an independent scheme administered by ABTA."

Mr Gibbons contacted Rights and Wrongs after we featured a similar story last month involving JMC.

The company had offered Mary and Tony Elliott £130 after their £1,300 October holiday to the Algarve went wrong.

The couple claimed many of the facilities advertised in the hotel had closed for the winter.

After we contacted JMC, Mr and Mrs Elliott received a cheque for £500 - the amount of compensation they had asked for.

Pensioners hit by washday blues

Fed-up Stan and Gloria Brogden have been waiting more than two months to get their washing done properly.

The 67-year-olds ordered a £365 1,200 rpm Servis automatic washing machine from Currys store in Bradford on December 12, entering a 12-month, interest-free credit agreement.

"We wanted a green one to match our new kitchen and they said they would have one delivered," Mr Brogden said.

"We waited three or four weeks and nothing happened, then we had a call from Currys to say they couldn't get the particular model we wanted and they asked if we would accept a 1,000 rpm machine in the same colour.

"We agreed and they said it would be the same price and delivered direct from the factory."

Last Tuesday a lorry arrived at their home in East Bowling with a 600 rpm machine.

"They just dumped it in our kitchen," said Mr Brogden. "We phoned Currys and they said it wasn't their problem - we should talk to the factory.

"Eventually Servis said they would come and pick it up the same day and deliver a 1,000 rpm machine. Nothing happened.

"They have now said they will come again and take the wrong one away and bring the right one but we are still waiting.

"In the meantime the finance company has already taken two payments out of our account.

"Neither of us is in the best of health and we can do without this.

"For the past ten weeks we have sometimes been going to the laundrette if we were desperate or our niece and our daughter have been taking bags of washing and doing it for us."

A Curry's spokesman said the wrong washing machine had been unloaded from the lorry by mistake.

"The manager will be contacting Mr Brogden to sort out the problem as quickly as possible," she said.

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