Having just got over the frustration of seeing the finals canceled because of a tidal wave that never materialised, the focus now shifts as to what will happen with the money that was paid.

I spoke with Vauxhall this morning and they told me that all they are going to refund at this moment in time is the security deposits that were paid on the vans. This is the £20 a player to cover any damage to the caravan while you are staying over. The plan is to send this money back to the captain (or whoever booked the vans in the first place). A cheque should be sent out this week but all cheques must be signed by the sites managing director so I hope he has plenty of ink in his biro.

This leaves two other payments , firstly , the £50 each league paid to enter the teams and the second is the money paid for the accomodation. Vauxhall told me that the EPA will be making a decision on what happens which I find a little bit odd. I would have thought that the sensible thing for all concerned is to return everything. The only people to miss out would obviously be Vauxhall, but seeing as they host nearly all EPA events why upset everyone by withholding the cash. They make a fortune behind the bars and in the shops and food stalls every time we are up there and I dont see why they cant refund everyone for this one off. Perhaps an alternative date is being planned to run the event again so dont book your christmas holidays just yet !

What throws me slightly is the possiblity of the EPA making the statement. I would not be at all suprised if they kept the £50 entry from each team and declared that the competition had officially started because some qualifiers had been played. After all, teams have been knocked out in prelims along with players in the singles. But a delicate decision is needed when it comes to the accomodation. Our captain paid over £200 for our one caravan - should he get it back ? Can they claim an 'Act of God' (thats what appears on their terms and conditions - athough that is up for some debate as the internet rumours circulating say that this was only added on the Friday after the Thursday night evac :? ).

If you log onto the website and click on the T&C you will see that this 'Act of God' sentance is now in [b]BOLD [/b]type
[b]
"Vauxhall Holiday Park will not be held responsible for any damage or inconvenience caused by acts of God including extreme weather conditions."[/b]

Are we going to see both parties (EPA and Vauxhall) stick two fingers up at the players with one party keeping all the accomodation money and the other holding onto the wedge of entry fees ?

You cant blame anyone for what happened but one thing that wasnt handled properly was the information and the evacuation itself. An announcement was made around 10:15pm asking all drivers to curb their drinking because there was a possibility of an evacuation. Then about 11pm a second announcement came that said they had been advised to evacuate the site and everyone must be of the park in 45 minutes. However the last thing that I heard from the EPA on leaving the hall went along the lines of " please dont ask us whether the event is still on or not as we dont know but please stay local an announcement will be made in the morning".

So everyone who left straight away thought it might still be on. I was parking up in Asdas about to bed down for the night when the police arrived and emptied that as well. Just on the off chance I rang Vauxhall to see if there was any police advice given on where to head for only for the receptionist to tell me the event was off so there was not much point in staying. So I rang the guys , packed up and drove home just after midnight.

The EPA had no choice but to follow the police advice but I would have expected more from the police and Vauxhall. They are situated in an area where flooding is quite common and you would have thought there were some procedures. For example , the police were supposedly going to be lenient on the drink drivers because of the circumstances but why didnt they just call every taxi and minibus available to the camp. Also , they should have shut the bar down as soon as the possible evacuation was known. They were already putting up sandbags at 7pm and the bar should have been alcohol free until they knew better £ £ £ . Also "head for Norwich" isnt exactly the info I want when faced with a night sleeping in the car.

I hope something acceptable to everyone is worked out but a difficult and delicate decision will have to be made by those holding the money.

Things could have been worse, I could have spent £40 on petrol , £50 on food for the team , £120 security deposit and taken an hour preparing a Thai Curry and rice and left it in a large pot on the stove after the evacuation.... hey...wait a minute !! :evil:

Keith,

Sorry to hear about that. There are some updates available on the EPA site see http://www.epa.org.uk/index.php. Hope that offers you some level of comfort, although it cannot bring your Thai Curry back.

Excellent news ! Kudos to the EPA for a solution so quickly. Bring plenty of warm clothes !!

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Following the unfortunate cancellation of the events for the weekend of 9th - 11th November the English Pool Association are pleased to be able to give details of the re-scheduled events.

All events are now scheduled for 1st - 3rd February 2008 as detailed below.

Ladies National Amateur February 1st 2008 Yarmouth.
C of C & Ladies K/O Cup 2nd & 3rd February Yarmouth.
Accommodation will be available on the Thursday night for those that have booked it.
Accommodation for the event in November was sold out, there is next to 0% chance of any further accommodation being available.
The Tournament Director, Alan Benton is prepared to accept additional entries to the Ladies National Singles. (limited numbers, first come first served)

Time table of events will be exactly as published for November 2007.

All accommodation bookings will be honoured, any teams or individuals that wish to withdraw will be given full accommodation refunds.

Any new teams brought in to replace teams that may withdraw will be charged the 2007 accommodation rate of £37.50 (£32 juniors)

Security bonds paid in last weekend will be refunded by VHP by post in due course.

The Tournament Director, Alan Benton will be writing to all entrants to offer them the alternative dates, He will be supplying self addressed, stamped envelopes to all entrants to take away any excuses to not replying. He will assume anyone that doesn't respond by he deadline date is attending, at this point the refund offer will be withdrawn.

Its been taken off the EPA site now, also removed from their competition diary :?

A confirmed date has been posted onto the epa website, check out http://www.epa.org.uk

Well , its hardly a suprise that its not gone without a hitch.

It wont help those going to the European Championships (Mr Uzzell and his England boys) or anyone who is booked for a romantic meal on Valentines weekend !

and lets not forget that the Jersey festival of pool is that weekend so anyone whose booked flights there is knackered.

Also , the Ladies championship starts Thursday so they will have to get up there nice and early.

Can't believe I'm going to miss this year, my son still in school on Friday, so I can't get away until I leave him at home. :( He was so looking forward to it as well..