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View Full Version : Lapland brothers guilty of misleading customers



redred
02-18-2011, 12:38 PM
Two brothers have been found guilty of misleading thousands of customers at a Lapland-themed park.
Victor Mears, 67, and Henry Mears, 60, operated Lapland New Forest at Matchams Park on the Hampshire-Dorset border in 2008 before it closed.
A jury at Bristol Crown Court found both men guilty on five counts of misleading advertising.
The jury is still considering their verdicts on three remaining charges and the pair will be sentenced later.
The trial has heard that Victor Mears, of Selsfield Drive, and Henry Mears, of Coombe Road, Brighton, could have made more than £1m from up to 10,000 advanced ticket sales.
The brothers have been found guilty of five charges of engaging in a commercial practice which is a misleading action under the Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
Ripped off
The jury decided they had misled customers with adverts on the firm's website, in three local newspapers and in advertising flyers.
Jurors are still deliberating on three charges of engaging in a commercial practice which is a misleading omission.
These charges relate to accusations of whether they failed to tell customers that there was an extra charge for ice skating.
Visitors to Lapland New Forest were offered a "winter wonderland" with snow-covered log cabins, a nativity scene, husky dogs, polar bears and other animals, as well as a bustling Christmas market, the court was told.
Within days of the attraction opening, hundreds of disgruntled visitors complained to trading standards officials that they had been ripped off.
Less than a week later the attraction closed, with its owners blaming the media and sabotage by "New Forest villains" for the decision.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12497725