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Euro 2016: Top Travel Tips
Football fans hoping to head to France for next summer鈥檚 Euro 2016 tournament are waiting with bated breath to find out when and where Wales will be playing. That won鈥檛 be decided until the draw takes place on the 12th of December - however, waiting until then could be costly, as the price of hotels, flights and other travel arrangements are likely to rocket. So if you鈥檙e thinking of taking a gamble to save money by booking now, X-Ray has worked out the likelihood of where Wales will be playing.
Paris, which has two Euro 2016 stadiums, is the most likely city to host Wales matches. There鈥檚 a 53% chance of them playing one game there, and a 14% chance of 2 games.
But travel expert Simon Calder told X-Ray you should put your bet on Lyon, as you could easily travel to nearby St Etienne, which is also a host city. There is a 57% chance Wales will play at least one game either in Lyon or St Etienne, and a 4% chance they will play 2 games. And even if Wales are playing hundreds of miles away, great travel connections mean you can hop on to a high speed train and be there in a matter of a few hours.
Nice and Toulouse, which will only host 3 of the group stage matches each, are the least likely places you will see Wales play. There is only a 25% chance of Wales playing one game in Nice and a 25% chance of them playing one in Toulouse.
Andrew Kelland
Massive holes, piles of rubble and a dangerous tangle of wires. That is what one woman in Pontypridd was left with after paying out thousands of pounds to a builder. Emmajane Mantle hoped to turn a dis-used pub in Cilfynydd into two properties, one to live in and one to rent or sell. Last summer she hired a builder, Andrew Kelland, and paid him 17 and a half thousand pounds to do the work. But what she鈥檚 been left with is far from finished and it鈥檚 left her heartbroken.
Emmajane 鈥淚t was the worst decision of my life. It鈥檚 a nightmare, the one thing they were told, don鈥檛 damage the floor. Basically it has to be ripped up, the furniture, damage to the furniture, the ceiling is very bumpy. I鈥檝e got to rip everything down and have it done again.鈥
Emmajane isn鈥檛 alone - Rachel and Stuart Balchan wanted to extend their home because they were expecting their third child. Last December they paid 15 thousand pounds to Mr Kelland to get the job done. But after months of delays he left the job unfinished.
Rachel 鈥淐ertain days they would just no-show, they wouldn鈥檛 turn up, no phone calls to say why they weren鈥檛 there. The time was now going on, you just felt frustrated and very upset about the fact that what you wanted for your new arrival wasn鈥檛 actually going to happen.鈥
They both battled to get Mr Kelland to finish the job and when he didn鈥檛 they wanted their money back. Emmajane has received 拢13,000 for damages to her property. But finishing the job will cost her many thousands more. Rachel eventually had to use their savings to pay new builders to come in and finish the work.
Mr Kelland鈥檚 business is no longer trading. He couldn鈥檛 explain why he had done such a poor job for his customers but he blamed delays with planning permission with Emmajane鈥檚 property and claims she expected to him to make changes for free. He says he could not finish Rachel鈥檚 extension because her husband made threatening remarks to him. Mr Kelland says his customers will get money back if they prove what they鈥檙e owed.
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Airport Parking
When you leave your car at the airport, you put your trust in a parking company to look after it. You expect your vehicle to be parked safely and securely and for it to be in the same condition when you pick it up after your holiday. But X-Ray has been hearing from unhappy customers of one parking firm, 听Absolute Meet and Greet鈥 who say their vehicles were returned to them looking very different!
Kelly Owen from Bridgend used Absolute Meet and Greet Parking when her family booked a holiday to Florida in May. To Kelly, using Absolute Meet and Greets valet service seemed like the perfect stress free option. When they returned, Absolute Meet and Greet were waiting for them at Gatwick with Kelly鈥檚 beloved Mercedes E Class.听
Tired from the long flight, Kelly鈥檚 husband quickly looked over the car and the family set off home. But later, Kelly noticed that the car was covered with dents and scratches and the paint work had been re-sprayed. It seems someone had damaged her car and attempted to fix it鈥 badly. And the cost of putting right the damage came to more than 拢10,000!
Kelly called Absolute Meet and Greet, but they denied damaging the car and said the onus was on her to point out any damage when she collected it. But instead of giving up, Kelly turned detective. She phoned around some garages close to Gatwick airport and one confirmed a grille had been purchased for a Mercedes with her exact registration number, 24 hours before Kelly returned to the UK!
Even when she put her findings to Absolute Meet and Greet, the company still refused to accept liability. Fortunately for Kelly, her insurance covered most of the costs, but she had to pay the excess of 拢450.
Another customer, Carwyn Jones also used Absolute Meet and Greet back in May, but a few days before his holiday his car was hit by a lorry and suffered a few dents and scratches. As Carwyn鈥檚 car was already damaged when he dropped it off, Carwyn said he didn鈥檛 bother checking it carefully when he collected it.
But when he looked at the car the next morning he was shocked to find it had been repaired 鈥 badly! His insurers had to strip the car back to assess the damage 鈥 fortunately they covered the costs.
X-Ray wrote to Absolute Meet and Greet who still deny damaging or repairing Kelly and Carwyn鈥檚 cars. They say both customers checked their vehicles before leaving the car park and failed to point out any problems at the time. As for the radiator grille reference number 鈥 which exactly matched Kelly鈥檚 registration number - the company says the garage could have mis-typed a digit. Hmm鈥
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Lucy Owen |
Presenter | Rhodri Owen |
Reporter | Rachel Treadaway-Williams |
Series Producer | Joanne Dunscombe |
Broadcast
- Mon 26 Oct 2015 19:30大象传媒 One Wales HD & Wales only