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More than 1,000 ‘ripped off’ caravan owners have begun legal action after claiming they have been unfairly put out of pocket to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds by greedy holiday park owners.
Members of the Holiday Park Action Group (HPAG) are seeking compensation for what they say are unfair increases in annual pitch fees and misleading claims about the value of static caravans at the time of purchase.
They have accused holiday parks of selling the homes at a ‘significantly marked-up price’ ensuring owners had substantial losses if they ever decided to sell up.
Founder Carole Keeble told the BBC existing regulations were failing to protect consumers from ‘unfair commercial practices’ on an ‘industrial scale’.
The anticipated rulings in the High Court will rely on a small snapshot of test cases which could pave the way for the rest of the near 1,200 people to bring legal action to get compensation.
Hugh Preston KC, the group’s lawyer, said: ‘It’s essentially an unregulated sector, there’s no statutory regulations that tell parks what to do or how to behave… and there are a wide range of issues that consumers feel they’re just not getting fair value from.’
The first claim will ask the High Court to rule on whether annual pitch fee increases written into contracts between caravan owners and parks are fair and enforcable.
The second will test whether holiday parks should be legally required to explain to potential buyers that the value of static caravans can significantly decrease if sold in even just a few years time.
Carole Keeble told the BBC existing regulations were failing to protect consumers from ‘unfair commercial practices’ on an ‘industrial scale’
Jim Green and his wife Lorraine (pictured) bought a caravan at Parkdean Resorts Wemyss Bay in 2013, but said they were offered just £4,000 for it when going to sell
Kim Graham paid £57,000 for a mobile home (pictured) from Seal Bay Resort in Hampshire two years ago, but was offered just £15,000 for it this year
MailOnline previously spoke to static caravan owners who splurged tens of thousands on their homes before only being offered a quarter of the cost when they tried to sell them back.
Grandmother Kim Graham paid £57,000 for a mobile home from Seal Bay Resort in Selsey two years ago.
Mrs Graham put her life savings into the property shortly after the loss of her three-year-old granddaughter from Strep A, hoping the caravan would be a safe place for her family to go to grieve.
But when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in June, Mrs Graham decided to sell the mobile home, only to be offered just £15,000 by the company to buy it back.
Speaking to MailOnline, Mrs Graham said: ‘I’m devastated, my life savings went into it for my family to enjoy. I expected to lose money if I sold it but not that much.
‘My grief and sadness has escalated and I feel I’ve let my family down.’
Mr Green described his caravan as ‘beautiful’ but said he was told by the company it was old and would need moving offsite
Mr Green claimed the park put the mobile home on sale for nearly £27,000 – after offering him £4,000
The view from the decking of Mr Green’s old caravan at Parkdean Resorts Wemyss Bay before he gave it up
The grandmother added: ‘At the time I’d just lost my three-year-old granddaughter suddenly to Strep A and I wanted somewhere to go to make new memories with her little brother and my other grandchildren at a weekend/holiday retreat.
‘They talked me into buying a nearly new one and I wish I’d taken more time to read through the T’s & C’s as no one pointed any pitfalls out.
‘No one knows what’s around the corner but I wish someone would’ve sat with me and made me understand all of the risks instead of painting a rosy picture and readily duping me out of my life savings.’
Additionally, Mrs Graham said she did not realise the caravan would come with fees of more than £8,000 a year and claimed she was ‘totally mis-sold’ the purchase.
‘Their costs are so high it’s impossible to make a profit or even cover the extortionate fees,’ she said.
Meanwhile, former caravan owner Jim Green and his wife Lorraine bought a mobile home at Parkdean Resorts Wemyss Bay for £31,995 in 2013, before spending another £8,000 on decking.
He paid £17,495 for the more expensive model, in a part-exchange offer where the caravan park paid him £14,500 for his old mobile home, which he had bought earlier the same year for £12,500.
When they realised they only had three years left on the tenure, the park gave them £4,000, claiming the caravan was too old and would need to be moved off site.
But now, Mr Green has claimed the company has put the home on sale for nearly £27,000.
He told MailOnline: ‘It’s been really stressful. We actually bought it for our grandkids.
‘They have put my caravan which we loved up for sale on my very pitch for nearly £27,000.
‘We are absolutely gutted.’
Parkdean Resorts Wemyss Bay say that a lot of investment has gone into the caravan since he sold it, including a new boiler, and the value has increased as a result.
They added that customers are reminded of the fact caravans and lodges do not hold their value on their website and during the sale.
The scene from the decking of Mr Green’s mobile home before he was offered £4,000 for it
The view from the window of Mr Green’s former caravan at Parkdean Resorts Wemyss Bay
The scene from Mr Green’s former caravan before he was offered £4,000 for it
Speaking to the BBC, other caravan owners also shared their experiences of losing tens of thousands of pounds.
Sally Nicholls, from Sheffield, used her entire pension pot to secure her dream caravan for £69,000 at Tattershall Lakes Country Park in Lincolnshire.
But when she sold it three years later she only got back £15,000.
Away Resorts, which runs Tattershall Lakes Country Park, said in October that it provided buyers with ‘comprehensive information, including detailed terms and conditions’ to ensure they knew the potential risks.
Joanne Horner-Bloomfield, 65, is one of those taking legal action.
She told the BBC she ‘lost everything’ after spending around £38,000 purchasing and decorating her caravan at Watermill Leisure Park in Lincolnshire.
Within two years, she said her annual pitch fee increased from £2,795 to a staggering £4,100 – a fee she could not afford.
She was then informed the park would not purchase her caravan back because it was over ten years old – and would only fetch £5,000 on the open market.
A spokesperson for the park said it was under no obligation to re-purchase any caravan it had previously sold and that its sale with Ms Horner-Bloomfield had been fair and transparent.
The caravan parks mentioned in this article have all been contacted for comment.