Misleading displays force lates review

HIGH street retailers have issued new guidelines to staff over late-availability cards in shop windows after a BBC consumer show accused them of misleading the public.

Undercover reporters from BBC 1’s Hard Cash programme found that 25% of all holiday deals advertised in windows were not available. Of those that were, over half were more expensive than the price advertised in the window.

Hard Cash programme producer Sharon Keatley said: “We picked five holidays. If it was not available, we were generally offered an alternative. But we felt the adverts in the window were very misleading.”

Holiday Hypermarkets and Go Direct, both of which featured in the programme, said additional checks would be made to ensure the advertised offers are available in light of the Hard Cash investigation. A spokeswoman for Lunn Poly, also mentioned in the programme, said it would follow any additional guidelines issued by ABTA.