Thanx stu007. I have seen quite a bit about CRS & Travelodge! The consensus seems to be evenly split 50/50 in either settling or ignoring it! I am going to do the latter, as the letter that came to me is in my brothers name & not mine, plus - he does not live here!

Probably not the right place to post this-but does anyone know whether the £150 'fine' is for one, two or three rooms??

Thanks dx100uk, I thought it was a 'fishing' letter. I did notice during that stay that probably about half the 'residents' were smoking and some in their rooms (which i could see from outside in my car)! That was my first and last experience of Travelodge, the place was grim, very spartan, no lights outside, not even in the car park or over the pathways. The roads & car park were riddled with very large pot holes! I shall 'file' this now and see what happens, as if they try to issue a summons, they will come unstuck, as it is not in my surname!

I have received a £150 fine from CRS for smoking in a Travelodge. My step brother and i had two separate rooms for 4 nights in one 'lodge'! The letter is very confusing for a few reasons;- 1) The demand is addressed in name to my brother but at my address (we have separate surnames and live 400 miles apart|)! 2) We both smoke, but I only have cigarettes and did tend to smoke outside or in my car outside! 3) The date that CRS state it 'happened' was on 27th. Sep., the day we left at 0800 in the morning, after spending half an hour going up and down stairs with bags & etc.! 4) They do not state which room number it was (if any).! 5) The letter states "Travelodge believe that you have breached this term by smoking in your room" They only Believe, but sounds like they cannot prove?? 6) The letter gives 10 days to dispute this claim. What is the claim, as they only 'believe' and cannot give a room number, or offer any evidence???. They are so honest, as I left two mobile phone chargers plugged in and they never got returned to me, nor have they been found!! They were plugged in behind the television (which was bolted to the bench)!! Can someone give me some advice on this matter please?/ Thank you

I have the passbooks, which contain the account numbers, it has been to the FOS (Ombudsman) but as the A&L have not kept records (or so they claim) and therefore my passbooks are of no value!! I did omit to mention in my original post, that the A&L started life as indicidual Building Societies and were required by various lawas to keep records from the day they started - so I found it hard to believe that they did not have any records of my accounts. Also, I pointed out to the fact, that if the A&L were a reputable organisation then like Barclays Bank they would have records and that Barclays Bank have a small museum in Norwich, with the original lefgers going back to one of their forebears 'Gurneys Bank', back some 300+ years ago!! That was 'skipped' over by the FOS!!

I agree with you to some extend, but from my own dealings with the FOS, the 'rules' tend to be made up. There are 'basic' rules & regulations, but as you state, these have been stretched by the financial institutions to meet their own end. The FOS, are not and independent impartial service, being financed by the very people they get complained about. I think it is long overdue for the FOS to be truly independent, probably financed by the government on a levy from the financial institutions - but with no financial institution having any power to make decisions on how it is run. Is there not some sort of campaign 'up & running' for this to happen??

In Oct. 1989, I opened two passbook savings accounts with A&L. As I moved around the country a lot with different jobs/house etc., I could not keep up with changing my contact details. I thought the A&L would be 'safe' as they had taken over 'Girobank' the government bank. The A&L have been 'thin on the ground' with branches to change my contact details, of which they require one to go in with proof of i.d. & etc. In most cases the nearest branch was 100 miles away from me! In 2003 I tried to update and close the accounts down, having been medically retired and in declining health. Every obstacle was put in my way to do same. Finally I wrote to the Head Office - no record of my accounts!! The A&L sent me £50 for the 'inconvenience' and referred me to the FOS, after more than two years of 'to & fro' the FOS 'ruled' in the A&L's favour on the ground 'banks are not required to keep records for more than 6 years' and that it would seem from the A&L's investigation that the accounts were closed sometime prior to 1992!! I have the origianl letter from the branch that opened the accounts, together with the origianl two passbooks with the two opening entries entered into them. They were never updated for interest & etc. Every argument I could think of I put to the adjudicator but they kept coming back with the same answer!! It was even suggested that I may have encashed them with some i.d. and no passbooks and forgotten about it!! My marbles are fully intact and have a Pyschiatrict report that says same!! I have not accepted their decision even after final appeal I have an excellent memory, especially for small details and one conversation I did have with an employee of the A&L in the inital stages, was that although each passbook only contained £1000 each, I would have missed out on interest, share floatations, dividends & final bonuses. I suppose all compounded this could well have exceeded £7000!! The FOS did say that the £50 cheque that they sent me was FAIR!! Any ideas as to where I can go from here. I know I can take it to court, but it would probably exceed the Small Claims Court limits and also because I live in a remote area, this would be rather tiresome and costly. The FOS refused to send me any of the 'searches' that A&L did (I do not think they did any), as from the outset my name was spelt incorrectly and redundancies were looming over the A&L following the takeover by Santander. I would not be at all surprised to learn that my monies along with other people in a similar situation at the A&L have been used by Santander to pay for the purchase of A&L!! Any help or advice from people - would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks for reading!!

From what I understand from the FOS-there is no law as to how much notice has to be given by banks on the closing of accounts, other than 'a reasonable amount'. I would say that this is arguable in many ways-depending on the type of account!! I think you would be 'flogging a dead horse' trying to get anywhere with the FOS., as they tend to make the rules up, as they go along and most important of all they are not an impartial independent service, being financed by the banks, insurance companies & etc.!! At the end of the 'day' (probably a year +) they will most likely rule in favour of the bank. I would suggest that before you take any action - see a solicitor and try and get it 'Legal Aided' (saving you some monies) or from one of these 'Free Legal Advice' places - not the CAB, as they will refer you to FOS. See what they have to say. I am minded that if a person is working overseas on a contract anything less than at least 6 months notice would (in my view) deem to be unfair on the account holder. A lot of people nowadays are having to work overseas, due to the financial crisis and the 'World Economy' and the banks needs to come into the 21st. Century and catch up! Best of luck!