A1 was Pleasant for once! Land Rover Gear - what a bunch of Plonkers

Being rather unfortunate, I have to endure living in a town and working in another town both next to the A1, but that time of year was here again where the A1 transforms from a tired old road into an orgy of Landrovers - Bliss - commuting has never been such a pleasure!

Went to the LRO show on Sunday, had a great time, bought loads of needed and not so needed stuff, had some cash leftover - namely £60 ish, decided to spend all left on landrover gear clothing, walks in the tent - cash in hand - just to get chucked out because I was pushing a pushchair! Was told "If you wish to purchase goods - please leave the pushchair outside", I explained I was here with my son only, that no one could watch pushchair and little lad, the reply = "well sorry, that's the rules, have you tried mail order?" - bastards.

On the strength of that feedback they certainly won't be getting any trade from me!

Lee D

With 2 toddlers both Landie nutters too!

To be honest, I don't blame them. Mandy and I took shifts to go in, whilst the other sat with dog and pushchair.

There is no way you could safely take a pushchair round - not only would you have been a fire hazard but also there is a more than even chance of someone or something falling on your child. It's a very 'stack it high, sell it cheap' setup. The aisles are narrow and the environment is more 'rugby scrum' than 'gentle browsing'.

In my book it is nowhere near as good as it used to be. I haven't bought anything from any of the three shows this year, whereas I spent loads in the past.

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

legislation,

Then it should say Children not allowed on the adverts/tickets if they are to be excluded.

I don't do shows without the Kids they come as part of the package.

And while I can see the worst case scenario possibly being a reason in that case were they scrutineering 4x4's on the off road course, was there strict mashalling and were all overhead aircraft diverted? It happened at Locherbie..can never be too careful. My guess is they could squeeze another

I suppose those poor folk who are confined to wheel chairs would have suffered a similar response and if not why not - not that that either would be acceptable.

If public services are held to account for not being accessable to all and suffer the wrath of god knows what legistlation should they fail to comply then why should retailers not have to meet the same standards?

Lee D

Landrover gear clothing???

Wellington boots perhaps, the rainy season is about to begin.

-- Larry

"We are all of one mind, one equal mind, and if each of us persists in being the centre of our own existence we are all doomed to suffer at each others hands. I cannot exist on my own without you, neither can you be without me, what is the world wide web about after all?. We are interdependent whether we are aware of the fact or not"

Didn't realize his son was smoking at the time, you would have thought they would have let him in once he had stubbed it out!

I think you are be completely unreasonable about this - don't blame the businesses, they just pay the insurance premiums, blame the arsoles who go round sueing for the stupidest little things - they and their solicitors make the rules these days, not politelness, common sense or even good business!!

Richard

Perhaps I'm stating the obvious here, but perhaps you could have folded the pushchair and carried it in? Did you ask them about that?

Alex

I'd like to see the stand open to all...not discriminating against anyone...it doesn't mean they have to cough up financial penalties , but they do themselves very little in the customer relations stakes.

What I was trying to say if this sort of scenario had of occured in my line of employment (government agency) and someone complained they were being unfairly discriminated against then someones ass would be kicked big time yet these companys seem untouchable...that is as you rightly highlight unless you sue them which still doesn't right the problem unless you really make the budget smart.

Lee D.

What I was saying was that they may have no choice, customer relations or not - if your underwriter adds a cause to your ploicy that thou shall not do whatever, you cannot do it, and they are in the habit of adding all sorts of clauses these days.

I'm suggesting you dont sue - its the idiots who think they can make a quick buck that have got us into this sort of mess, and believe you me, companies are NOT untouchable, what they are is out of business if even one claim is made against them - they may well be insured, but not for the time devoted to dealing with it, and the inevitable loss of time caused. I think you are blaming the wrong people, your comments should be addressed to the solicititors who push up costs by suing, not necesserily the companies who just trying to survive.

Richard

I'd agree with that. I didn't even go in myself, the place was a madhouse!

Turned round and came straight back out, it looked worse than the hordes of people you get at the January sales.

Actually, the problem with the gear tent is that they wanted to stuff as much in as possible without making the space safe for pushchairs, wheelchairs, disabled people, children or anyone else who isn't 6 foot and up for a scrum.

Lee is right that they should make the space suitable for people who are likely to attend, and at the LRO Show that includes all the above. It is entirely their prerogative as a business to refuse to trade with anyone they like, but it is piss poor PR. It would cost them money to have less stuff crammed in and to organise a couple of fire escapes (and the attendant security problems). So they figure the lost trade from the excluded groups is cheaper (and they are almost certainly right).

The showground organisers (how I love them dearly!) should take action and prevent any stallholder having a stall that isn't safe for all to use. But they won't as long as they get their 5 figure stall rent on time. It was the same at Billing as I recall.

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

Well that's a new one on me!

I sell at craft fairs, indoor and outdoor, big and small events, and I have never heard or seen people asked to leave pushchairs outside.

The only explaination I can think of is that they have made it policy to avoid thefts (ie stuff the garments in the pushchair itself - some shops use this excuse) It is true that a pushchair uses up more space and at times the tents can get very crowded, but parents shouldn't be penalised for this. (kids trapped in pushchairs are safer as they are harder to loose, and adults are less likey to trip over them TBH, - as a parent of 2 young children and an exhibitor, Icecream, sticky fingers and the rearranging of the display is more of a hazzard to the exhibitor than the pushchair!

Fairs (In my experience) are very disabled freindly, Several I have attended have had wheel chair bound exhibitors showing their work. So seeing the pushchair as a fire hazzard is bollocks IMHO. Where fire IS a hazzard ie glassblowing demonstraion or black smithing, there are strict guide lines as to the amount of peeps allowed to view, the area should be roped off to a designated distance ect etc again, push chairs and wheelchairs are allowed to view. A fair or event should be covered by Public liability insurance, by the organisers. The exibitors should idealy be cover indiviually aswell, (though getting cover is virtually impossible in my expereince)

Basically IMHO the people you came across were just being arrogant tossers, and there for didn't deserve your custom

Helen

Phew - caused a stir!!

Alex, yes I did ask if the guy would watch the pushchair for me(and some autojumble bits in the tray at the bottom), but he could only suggest I park it in the "dog" park (seemed they had considered dogs more than future landy owners?) and could not guarantee its security. That was the clincher to walk away - I was quite prepared to carry 10month old baby around. I even asked if I could leave the pushchair around the back of the credit card payment counter (to the left as you walk in) - answer no (with the guy having a disgusted look on his face).

I fully understand the argument about health & safety, insurance etc, but surely if this was the case the tent would have been subjected to a maximum occupancy etc? - the wheel chair comment was very valid - did anybody get refused? In my (wound up and biased) opinion, that is/was just a front to hind behind. The previous comment of stack em high, sell em cheap was correct, it was totally greed over customer service.

Sorry to waffle on, but the bastards did wind me up, it was also Sunday afternoon, it was very quiet, say max 60 people in there!

But, suppose the good news about this was, I did buy a K & N filter and some new headlamps with money left over - every cloud has a silver lining?

Was interesting reading guys!

Rog

OK OK apart from that What have the Romans ever done for us? NOTHING!

;-)

Lee D

The marquee they were using was exactly the same one as at Billing this year

- can't see why they don't get a bigger one - would solve the problem. After all, their shops are quite spacious......

It would cost more! Marquee's are enormously costly to buy, but that probably pales to nothing compared to the additional charges that the organisers would levy.

They are there to maximise their profits. Spreading the same stock over a greater area would only slightly improve turnover but greatly increase costs.

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

Come to think of it, something tells me they probably hire the marquee - ISTR seeing them taking all the contents out of the one at Billing last year on the Sunday night, leaving an empty tent by Monday morning.

To the tune of thousands of pushchair wheeling parents........

And others, like myself, who found the atmosphere very claustrophobic and kept being pushed, shoved, and almost causing a stack of china mugs to go flying, all down to pure overcrowding!

True. But that's life these days.

Perhaps you should have told the f-wit to keep an eye on the pushchair, and shopped at your leisure. Tossers they are.