Caravan owner 'felt trapped' by £20,000 sale loss

A caravan owner has said she felt trapped into selling it back to the holiday park owner for a £20,000 loss after just four months when relocation plans did not work out.

Kelly Hughes bought the caravan at a park in north Wales as a temporary home and holiday let when she was looking to move from Kent for work after finishing university.

But she said she felt obliged to sell her £30,000 purchase back to the park's owner for £9,500 rather than incur costs for selling it privately.

About 1,200 caravan owners across the UK are to begin legal action against the holiday parks that sold them. Industry representative the British Holiday and Home Park Association has said it was not appropriate to comment.

The National Caravan Council said it was aware of the legal action but would not be commenting further.

Ms Hughes explained that she bought her caravan in August 2018 and hoped to use it temporarily while relocating from Kent and then letting it out as holiday accommodation.

But when her plans did not work out, she wanted to sell the caravan and was initially offered £8,000 by the park's owner before agreeing to £9,500 in December.

"So I lost over £20,000 on that," she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"If I didn't sell it back to the park, they added in a load of additional fees for sort of removal from the park, disconnection fees, massive transport fees, things like that.

"You do feel kind of trapped selling back," she said.

Members of the Holiday Park Action Group (HPAG) are seeking compensation for what they say are unfair increases in annual pitch fees and misleading claims about the value of static caravans at the time of purchase.

The legal proceedings follow a BBC investigation that revealed how people had lost their life savings, inheritance and pensions when the holiday homes they had bought lost value.