Bogus Gas Men Attn. Angie Guerrero/Frank Leaver
Dear Sir,
You recently wrote about bogus gas men. Last Friday I received a phone call referring to me by name purporting to be from “the gas board”. The man said I needed to have my butane equipment checked out, that this was an obligation and that one of their agents was in the area and be around within the next few minutes. As suggested by one of you I contacted the local police so that they had time to arrive and “nab the rogue”.
They weren’t interested and said mostly these men did have a licence to carry out the work if requested. They pointed out that apart from the checks were not being obligatory they were not breaking the law - I could simply say no. This might not have been so easy for some pensioners who I hear is their preferred target.
Another scam has hit a friend. She received a message on her mobile asking if she’d like to send a message of support (note not cash) to the Philippines by hitting the “return” key. This she did and had her phone credit emptied.
Mike Lillico
p.s. I have a dispute with Ryanair refusing to accept as a valid ID an up to date Spanish residencia (with photo etc.) of a non-EU citizen (Nigerian) on an internal flight (Palma – Madrid). He was flying to Madrid to renew his passport which had expired. Presumable this would also apply to Australians, Americans etc. The Spanish Authorities AESA has upheld my claim on behalf of this passenger and recommended Ryanair pay him compensation of 250€ and a refund of the ticket price (he flew out 30 minutes later with Air Europa – no problem). Ryanair has refused to pay saying EU Regulation 261/2004 does not apply to Spanish ID on their internal flights.
Any ideas on how to jolly Ryanair along? So far this year (all on behalf of others!) I’ve extracted 3600€ from Iberia over EU 261/2004 so I want to keep my batting average up.
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