YOUR VIEWS: Importance of checking receipts and shock closure of Highland nursery
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Some of the topics that have been exercising readers over the last few days.
Shock closure of nursery after inspection
The Country Bumpkins Nursery in Ardersier was closed without warning, a day before a Care Inspectorate report was published which raised concerns on several fronts about the safety of children attending. The owners later disputed the inspectors’ findings.
“It is a shock and came out of nowhere and poor Rosie’s not gonna see any of her pals from nursery now.” – Mandy Maclean
“Care Inspectorate report is very damning, and I’d be surprised if that’s not the real reason for closure. Shocking.” – Kurtis McMillan
“So sad for all involved, but for the kids..just devastated! This will be a big loss to us.” – Alex Masson
“Strange as they were only advertising for staff last week!!” – Michelle Bryan
“It’s not a shock. I run third sector nurseries in Scotland and times could not be harder. Scottish Government give the funding to the council to pay us. The council is keeping the funding. Highland Council published in council papers October last year that they redirected 25 per cent of funding away from nurseries to spend on other things. Over £10m displaced but then told us, Country Bumpkins included, that there was no funding for us to pay fairly and sustainably. The Care Inspectorate scores are inevitable if the sector is deprived of the resources needed to deliver high quality early learning and childcare.” – Kenny Forsyth, Fort William
“This article is shocking to read but I am not in the slightest surprised. We pulled out daughter out of Country Bumpkins in March having not felt safe leaving her there any more.” – Emma Brown, Forres
Take care to properly check shop receipts
I am aware that many of your readers will make long journeys through to Inverness in order to do their “big shop”.
Undoubtedly, when they get back home, they may check their receipts and find that they’ve been overcharged (again) and that the price displayed on the shelf edge promotion is not the price they’ve been charged.
I live in Dingwall and I often find mistakes when I check my receipt but it’s easy enough for me to pop back into the supermarket, wait at the service desk, point out the error and receive the refund.
My guess is that most of your readers won’t have the time or inclination to chase their refund via the phone or online so they just have to forget about it.
Asda have particularly bad form here. My brother is regularly overcharged for items. He eventually gets a refund from the service desk but notices that the problem is not fixed and therefore all the other customers will end up being overcharged to the benefit of Asda.
Recently he spent seven weeks pointing out an error in the price of beer but Asda continued to retail the beer at a higher price than the one on the shelf next to the promotion.
I contacted Asda and this is a quote from their response to me that I’m sure your readers will be interested in: “When you are looking at goods on the shop floor, they are an invitation to sell, the price when you go through the till is correct. If the shelf edge label is displaying the wrong price, we don’t have to sell you it at that price. A contract has not been made until you have been through the till.”
Here is the relevant quote from Consumer Advice regarding the legality of overcharging customers: “Despite it being a criminal offence, if an item has been marked incorrectly with the wrong price, eg the shelf label says £1.50 but the item scans at £1.80, you cannot demand that the retailer sells you the item at the lower price. If a business regularly prices items incorrectly, this may be something Trading Standards Service will want to investigate.”
The problem is that there are only two Trading Standards officers for the whole of the Highlands and you can’t contact them directly. The law, of course, is always on the side of the supermarkets so I doubt they are ever fined for breaking the law.
I would encourage all your readers to be vigilant and to check their receipts carefully to ensure that they aren’t being ripped off and overcharged for their shopping.
Alan Roberts
Kinnairdie Avenue
Dingwall
Help at hand to support loved ones with cancer
Cancer is one of the hardest things a person can experience and we know how important friendships are in helping people to cope practically and emotionally.
Yet our latest survey shows that 59 per cent of people with cancer found friends struggled with knowing what to say after diagnosis while 35 per cent even said they felt they had lost friends because of their cancer.
This can be devastating for people, but we support all people living with cancer so we are also here to help people be the best friends they can be, while also supporting them to manage their own anxiety.
Visit maggies.org to find out how we can support you if you have a friend with cancer.
Dame Laura Lee
Chief executive
Maggie’s
Law of the Sea dictates need for ships’ horns
I fully admire the support given by your readers for retaining cruise ship horn blasts.
However, retaining them has nothing to do with tradition. It has to do with Law of the Sea.
Large ships, confined to restricted spaces are obliged by the law to warn other vessels that may be near them that they are on the move.
Hence, if the ship blasts twice it is moving to port (left) and once if it is moving to starboard (right) and three times if it is moving astern ie backwards.
Hence, cruise liners will NOT stop blasting their horns, to the delight of the majority of the citizens of Cromarty.
John Hart (ex-HMS Eagle, Hermes and Ark royal)
Sandown Road
Nairn
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