A woman stood up by her blind date is facing a restaurant bill for £60 - despite having nothing to eat.

Di Cooke, pictured right, was flabbergasted when she received a demand for £60 from the Box Tree Restaurant in Ilkley after failing to ensure a table for two, booked on a busy Saturday night, had been cancelled.

But the restaurant is perfectly within its rights to charge a fee to cover money lost by keeping the table free for her.

And West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers say anyone making a booking or placing an order could find themselves in the same position if they failed to turn up.

Miss Cooke, 41, of Menston, had arranged to go on a blind date with a friend of a friend who was visiting Yorkshire from Australia as part of a cricket trip.

She booked a table at the restaurant in Church Street but got a call from her date who said he could no longer make it.

She said: "He said he would cancel the table but he didn't, and now they want me to pay £60.

"It's really embarrassing - this guy has probably left the country by now. I explained to them what had happened and that I had been let down."

Miss Cooke, who said she had been in contact with the restaurant by phone and letter, added:

"I'm a single parent and I can't afford to pay the bill."

West Yorkshire Trading Standards divisional manager Paul Cooper said customers who failed to turn up for appointments of any kind after making a booking were in breach of contract, unless they cancelled beforehand.

"If you phone and book you are entering into a contract with the business," he said. "It may well be a verbal contract but it has the same significance in law as a written one, although it is sometimes more difficult to prove.

"The fact the lady didn't turn up and the restaurant was not notified in advance, meant the restaurant lost business. They had a table there waiting for her which they could not allocate to anyone else, so there was a loss suffered by the business which the business is entitled to recover.

"And if you are in breach of contract, not only are you responsible for paying the amount to remedy the breach, but you are also responsible for sequential expenses - to cover the business's time, inconvenience and expenses in recovering the original loss."

Mr Cooper said the law on contract also covered phone orders and bookings for goods and services ranging from hotels and takeaway food, to hairdressers and dentists.

"In theory it applies to any contract - but a lot of businesses just write off the loss although they are entitled to seek compensation."

Tourists take up the cudgels

British tourists facing a holiday disaster have dumped their stiff upper lip image - and gone on the warpath instead.

Travel agent Going Places says holidaymakers' complaints have risen more than 20 per cent over the last year despite the fact that research shows the quality of package holidays has improved.

Managing director Peter Shanks says the problem is that holidaymakers are now complaining about small issues that would be better dealt with on the spot or are simply not under the firm's control.

"People have complained to us about unseasonal weather, small delays on air travel or perhaps one ring not working on their cooker," he said.

"The tone of people's letters is becoming more and more demanding and from time to time unreasonable. Quite frankly a niggling problem does not justify a 12-page letter."

Consumers' Association senior lawyer Eileen Brennan said: "People are more aware of their rights and they are certainly entitled to be.

"But we would only recommend they take action if they have a reasonable basis for complaint."

GUIDE TO COMPLAINING

1. Complain as soon as possible to someone in a senior position.

2. Take note of the person's name. Keep a record of any verbal complaint.

3. Keep letters to the point and stick to the facts. Resist the temptation to make the complaint personal.

4. Keep a copy of your letter.

5. If possible quote the relevant piece of law, for example The Sale of Goods Act. It may be worth going to an advice centre to find out this kind of information.

6. State what redress you are seeking.

7. Set a deadline, but be reasonable.

8. Send the letter of complaint by recorded delivery.

9. Make sure you have gathered your evidence such as invoices, brochures or receipts.

10. You might also need to consider getting independent evidence on the standard of the work or service you are complaining about.

Watchdog's rap for mailshot company

A get-rich-quick company highlighted by Rights and Wrongs has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The watchdog upheld several complaints against Morris International Ltd, which is trading as International Claim Bureau in Queensland, Australia.

The Authority decided the company's mailshot was misleading because it gave the "overriding impression" the recipient was going to receive an item worth at least £330.

And it was worried that the promoters did not give enough prominence to the fact that, in exchange for £6.97, recipients were guaranteed only to receive a low-value award.

Rights and Wrongs has drawn attention to letters sent to Bradford homes from International Claim Bureau when it was operating from Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, and from other companies including International Monetary Funding, also based in Queensland.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers say the letters should be thrown in the bin because the companies are operating outside the United Kingdom and are not subject to British law.

This means householders who send off money have no legal come back against the companies.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.