18 March 2023 , 22:12
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An aggrieved customer of budget airline Wizz Air sent a bailiff to an airport to collect cash he claims he's owed from a last minute cancelled flight.
Russell Quirk says he was so frustrated waiting for his compensation after an axed flight to Portugal, he sent the debt collectors to Luton Airport to demand staff cough up.
The property expert shelled out for new flights for him and his family after the journey was cancelled at the 11th hour, resulting in £4,500 in losses - without even accounting for the missed night's hotel costs.
Mr Quirk, from Brentwood, Essex, had booked flights in January last year to Faro for a stay with his wife and three daughters in May.
But waking up on the day of their holiday, the family were crushed to receive a message from the airline saying the flight had been cancelled.
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Wizz Air took two months to pay back the money for the cancelled flight, but ignored requests for extra costs incurred from their cancellation (NurPhoto via Getty Images)"There was no explanation, no alternative offered and no apology," he told the BBC.
"I had to wake my three daughters and tell them we weren't going on holiday - they were very upset."
The family of five were eventually able to fly out the following day, with Mr Quirk immediately seeking compensation for their lost money upon their return home.
He waited two months for the flight costs to be returned, but would wait even longer for the extra expenses lost out on.
Unwilling to be ignored, Mr Quirk applied for a county court judgement which prompted bailiffs to turn up at Wizz Air's airport desk over the sum.
Staff were told to either hand over the money or equivalent on goods, and faced the prospect of having to hand over office chairs and computer equipment to pay the debt.
A Wizz Air spokesman told the BBC the airline had fallen short of expectations last year due to travel disruption across Europe.
"When things went wrong, we did not react quickly enough to manage the high volume of customer claims that resulted from this disruption."