Has the world gone mad??

dick

dick

LOTSW Fanatic
Apparently a five year old from Torpoint in Cornwall , is to be taken to court for missing a schoolmates birthday party at a ski centre. On the day, the young boy was given the choice of going to the party or going to his grandparents. He chose his grandparents and his father who did not have a contact number for the mother of the birthday boy ,thought if he apologised later it would be alright. He was amazed when his son brought home an invoice for £15-95 for the amount it cost for the party because his son was not there to attend. The other child's mother had given it to a teacher to pass on to the boy. Because the father refused to pay the invoice the birthday boy's mother is taking the matter through the small claims court. It will probably cost her a lot more than the £15-95 but she seems to want to follow it up!! :39:
 
It has Dick,I just hope the court throws it out,what will happen next if you get invited you will have to sign a contract,so then if you do not show you can be punished through a legal claim,and the adverts will appear on the TV for claims companies, Did your friend miss your party,stick with us and we will get you compensation, or mothers will take a non returnable deposit from parents of invited children.

So if the child had attended it would of cost this mother £15.95 anyway,so the fact the child did not attend makes no odds
 
The thing that P....ed me off is that birthday boy won't play with the child now, solely the parents fault for making a fuss. Way to go for teaching your kids to forgive and forget.

Out of all the kids parties we've done and the money we've spent there is always one or two that don't show up and it does cost money but we've never bothered, More for the other kids to eat, I certainly would never spoil the child's big day with stupid juvenile behavior.
 
I suppose the important thing here is;

Did the parents of the boy who did not attend know the party was going to cost money per head?

If they did then they should have said he wouldn't be attending with plenty of notice.

If the boy had attended, would the parents still have to pay?

Seems odd to pay for something you're not getting, I wonder what they were 'charging' for? Can only think some food got wasted - though I'm sure a bunch of kids would soon hoover that up.
 
Sadly yes I think the world has gone mad, it would seem a children's party is now becoming a status symbol and is now costing a lot of money !!!
 
world gone mad

Next stage of the blame/claim and trip or slip culture ridiculous. I went to see a comedian recently at start of the act he asked if anyone was involved in a claim from damages as the result of an accident . One guy answered yes at which point the comedian told him there was no place for anyone of that type at his shows and that he should go now collecting the £12 he paid for his ticket at the door sure enough the guy skulked out [ assume he was a stooge and part of the act].

This allowed the comedian to tell a gag about how he contacted one of these trip and slip lawyers asking if they could take a case on , apparently he had been trying to change the honey bell in the budgie's cage and he was given the wrong type of ladder . He had fallen and hit his head on the cuttlefish , all of which broke the ice for the evening !

He also used " I was painting a large black semi circle on the side of a steep rocky crag when I was run over by a train driven by a large bird" you really need to be more careful before taking a job with ACME my friend.
 
dick said:
Apparently a five year old from Torpoint in Cornwall , is to be taken to court for missing a schoolmates birthday party at a ski centre. On the day, the young boy was given the choice of going to the party or going to his grandparents. He chose his grandparents and his father who did not have a contact number for the mother of the birthday boy ,thought if he apologised later it would be alright. He was amazed when his son brought home an invoice for £15-95 for the amount it cost for the party because his son was not there to attend. The other child's mother had given it to a teacher to pass on to the boy. Because the father refused to pay the invoice the birthday boy's mother is taking the matter through the small claims court. It will probably cost her a lot more than the £15-95 but she seems to want to follow it up!! :39:
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First of all, five year olds do not need to have such an expensive party thrown for them. And of course, invoicing the parents for the cost incurred when the child failed to attend was just silly. Now that I have this out of the way, I have the following questions.

1. Why was the child suddenly given the choice between going to a party or to the grandparents? I don't think that age five is not too young to teach him that if an invitation is accepted; then it is expected that he should attend the party.

2. Where was the mother? Are the parents separated and was it a day for the child to be with Daddy? It would have made sense that Daddy didn't want to give up his time with his child for a party. If this was the case, then the child would have elected to go to the grandparents because he knew that this was the only time that he was going to see this set of grandparents. Or maybe Daddy not so subtly indicated his wishes. Grandparents (Big smile)? Or that party (Frowny face).

3. Wouldn't the prospect of attending a party been a very big deal to this child? Buying a present and the anticipation of attending? So let's examine the party. So was this a party where the entire kindergarten class was invited? Or a party with the child's close friends? It was probably a party where the entire class was invited so perhaps there wasn't an emotional investment by the child. So it was easy for him to elect to visit the grandparents.

4. If the mother who threw this party sent an invoice for L16, then it was treated like a sit down wedding reception with the exact number of attendees being provided to the caterer. But a birthday party for five year olds should NEVER be that fancy. Here's hoping that she ends up with mud on her face by the time the furor dies down.
 
I don't know why, other than the fact that I operate with an incredibly warped mind, this incident does remind me of an old story, 'The case of the negotiable cow' :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_of_Inland_Revenue_v_Haddock

First, on the issue of the expense of the party, I totally agree with Adanor that 'five year olds do not need to have such an expensive party thrown for them'. However, that is the way of the world now as parents try to outdo each other in so many ways. In case it is not recognised by all, the £15:95 represented the cost per head to hold the party at a dry ski slope centre near Plymouth. Obviously it had to be prepaid and there would have been a cut-off point for a cancellation.

Do not concur Adanor's thoughts on the five year old, some of which seem irrelevant. As I understand it, parents accepted invitation on behalf of the child and subsequently realised they ALL had a prior engagement at grandparents. To send child to party might well have represented great disappointment to grandparents. And as a prior engagement it was correctly assigned 'PRIORITY'.

Moving to the legal points, I cannot believe that acceptance of this invitation represented in any way a binding contract. So it is difficult to envisage on what basis the court can find against the parents of the non-attendee. By preferred outcome would be that the court fine the plaintiff for gross waste of its time.

Yes the world has gone mad. I do feel that we in the UK have sadly followed a US trait in tending to rush to litigation. No wonder we have so many wealthy lawyers (ambulance chasers).

I do recognise that the parents of the non-attendee were guilty of bad-manners. The are occasions when I feel bad-manners should be treated as a criminal offence (but note that would be action in the criminal courts and not the civil courts). But one must note that I feel that in rip-off Britain there should be far more action by our police against the rip-off companies and matters should not be left to the citizen (or BBC reality TV programmes) to chase down offenders.

End of rant before I move on to another one!
 
A newspaper columnist has praised the woman who sent the bill , calling her a genius!

The reasoning being that no one will want to go to her next party for fear of a bill. Thereby saving herself a heap of money!:me:
 
dick said:
A newspaper columnist has praised the woman who sent the bill , calling her a genius!

The reasoning being that no one will want to go to her next party for fear of a bill. Thereby saving herself a heap of money!:me:
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Another bête noire of mine - newspaper columnists!!

:unhappy::unhappy::unhappy::unhappy::unhappy::unhappy:​
 
I read that on my phone just last week. I was peeved when I read this one. First of all I wouldn't have had a party to that extent. I agree everyone is trying to out do everyone else. I just had cake and ice cream for the kids. My sister has big BBQ and invites the parents as well. :me::me: Mostly extended family. I feel she is doing it more for her than for the kid. She doesn't have the house to have it and uses my moms house and guess who is doing the cooking.......... yes my mom. (rolling eyes).

I suppose they should have canceled , but if no reservations were needed it seems like it would have been where you see how many show up for the event then pay for that many kids.

I bet she won't have anymore extravegant parties. Shame the kids don't play anymore, I bet the party mom told her son not to play with him.

I cannot wait to see how the court day goes. Been reading some of the post on BBC news. Hillarious. :02:
 
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Has the world gone mad

I remember the most valuable thing at a birthday party was the present in the passy the parcel, to me its all now about who can outdo who, a not a keep up with but who can beat the Joneses.

Having that home baked food and self organised entertainment far outstrips these parties with their Corporate feel . For the cost of four cup cakes you could probably make enough food to feed a whole party [and put the leftovers in the old man's bait on Monday morning ! Nothing quite as amusing in a factory at lunch time Monday when some poor guy takes out iced fairy cakes . mini sausage rolls stuck to a home made toffee cake, home made jam tarts and the last piece of home made Birthday cake with half the letter P on it , all instead of the normal doorstep sandwiches]
 
Its all get very sophisticated now, my kids had the jam butty and jelly parties, you wouldn't believe the things we have to do for the grandkids!
 
Now I know it has............, Coventry police are showing CCTV footage of a Lollipop man having his "lollipop" stolen.:30::eek:
 
dick said:
Now I know it has............, Coventry police are showing CCTV footage of a Lollipop man having his "lollipop" stolen.:30::eek:
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:-[ I was only borrowin it............ Guvna, onest............. :me::12:
 
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