Streetwise notches up £150,000 in refunds

Reader John Matthews from Lee-on-the-Solent helped it over the line when he received £400 in compensation from Saga car insurers for a bungled accident claim.

Streetwise took up the 78-year-old pensioner’s case when it was discovered that a contractor failed to return his car and vandalised it while in its care.

The column consistently obtains compensation and refunds from high street retailers and online firms for short-changing readers and abysmal service standards.

Richard Thomson, who writes the regular column for the paper, says it has empowered countless readers to get a fair deal from all sectors of the business community, both large and small.

‘John’s case was typical,’ he said. ‘Somewhere along the line mistakes were made which wrongly hit him in the wallet and he couldn’t get it fixed.

‘Streetwise stepped in and immediately got it sorted. The insurer, once alerted to the situation, appreciated our intervention and took steps to prevent recurrences of similar incidents.’

n Streetwise returns in November