Man sends bailiffs to airport to collect money for cancelled holiday

In a desperate attempt to get his money back for cancelled flights, a furious passenger felt he was left with little choice but to send bailiffs to the airport.

Last May, Russell Quirk, his wife and three daughters, were supposed to be flying out from Luton airport to Faro, Portugal for a nice family holiday.

However, on the morning of the flight, the property expert from Brentwood, Essex, woke up the last-minute news no passenger ever wants to hear - the Wizz Air flight had been cancelled.

As a result, Russell was forced to find another route to Portugal as hotels, transfers and an airport lounge were already paid for.

The new flights, along with money lost on hotel rooms and other expenses, cost him a whopping £4,500.

He told the BBC that his treatment by the company has been 'shambolic'.

Mark Castro / Alamy Stock Photo

After coming back from holiday, the father-of-three waited months for the airline to send him a refund.

During that time he went to court to get compensation from Wizz Air.

But because the airline 'ignored' his claim for 'consequential losses', Russell then sent bailiffs to the Wizz Air desk at Luton Airport.

"Their option was to hand over the money or the bailiffs would take it in goods - it might have been chairs, tables, computers or an aircraft," Russel said.

Wizz Air have since apologised for the incident and sent a full reimbursement, which includes court costs (£180) and bailiff-related expenses (£60).

The passenger said: "Increasingly businesses are thinking they can treat customers like dirt and I'm determined to eradicate that.

"My message is, where big companies stonewall you, if you persevere you can get what is owed to you."

Michael Kemp / Alamy Stock Photo

A spokesperson for Wizz Air said: "In the summer of 2022, due to unprecedented levels of disruption across Europe and the UK which affected the entire industry, we fell short of our own aspirations and our customers' expectations.

"When things went wrong, we did not react quickly enough to manage the high volume of customer claims that resulted from this disruption.

"We are sorry about this and we are working to ensure that our customers' experience with Wizz is better this year.

"Since December, Wizz has paid all CCJs [county court judgements] where it received the judgment, and is continuing to work to settle all other outstanding claims as quickly as possible."

LADbible has contacted Wizz Air for additional comment.