Lad Who Entered a Competition to Win a Car Only Received a Toy One
In the News
If this had happened to me, I'd already be consulting a Solicitor.
"A FRUSTRATED father says he is considering legal action after his son who entered a competition to win a car only received a toy one.
Gregory Edwards, 40, from Colchester, has been left confused and upset after he said his teenage son was “tricked” by a popular city nightclub.
Mr Edwards’ son Noah, 18, entered a competition from ATIK, which stated the club was giving away a car through a competition."
In the poster, which Mr Edwards believed showed a picture of a Mini, it said to win a car, guests must purchase a ticket for an event on March 31, with the winners chosen from the ticket holders at random and announced on the night by a DJ.
However, both were left confused after Noah was told he would only receive a toy car despite no mention of that being made on the advertising poster.
Mr Edwards said: “On the poster, it shows a picture of a Mini.
“There were no terms and conditions on the ad, no asterisk, nothing that infers it is a toy car, no further information or anything like that.
“I have shown it to friends and colleagues asking them about it and they all agree it looks like you buy a ticket and could win a car.
“My son is learning to drive at the moment, so I would’ve had to insure it, and was only expecting one worth about five grand.
“Noah spoke to the manager who told him they were getting the car from Smyths, with a picture of a yellow and red pedal car kids use.
I would 100% take this to a solicitor
I have seen similar to this over the years where there has been misleading advertising and some by large organisations , this to me is misleading
Now that's a bit of a let down. Poor winner. Emotional states... Ecstatic with the win and then comes down to earth with a bump
Mskaur Apparently it would have been the poor lads first car as well, I'd be gutted, quickly changing to furious.
Very misleading but in that poster it does look like a toy car. I feel the company needs to be fined for a misleading advert but I doubt you would get a full car out of them.
Unfortunately the company has done nothing wrong. Mr Edwards does state there are no terms and conditions. It’s a learning curve for the future. Read the small print, if there is any!
eyeballkerry But does no terms and conditions mean they can just do as they please? Seems a massive shame if that's the case.
Sounds like a very badly run competition, you could complain to ASA though who would investigate the situation.
Obviously would be disappointing but he hasn’t lost anything unless that was the sole reason he bought a ticket to the club night. To me it kind of looks like a joke anyway as when looking closely can see that the picture is clearly of a toy car.
jms19 It does look like a toy car, but maybe he put it down to the fact that's the first pic they found on google images when they were making up the poster 
Here's a case from 2001 where a waitress thought she would win a car , a 'Toyota' for selling the most beer in a month at Hooters and was given a 'Toy Yoda' instead , the owner saying it was an april fools joke, a play on words
She took it to court and cited breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation and walked away with an undisclosed sum of money
www.boredpanda.com/toy-yoda-toyota-hooters-prank-gone-wrong-jodee-berry/
telmel Good on her - I guess her case was a little stronger because they promised a Toyota, not a toy Yoda.
At the end of the day, there were no terms and conditions. Shouldn't read into these things and have an expectation that it would be worth about £5,000!
telmel And I guess even a settlement from the nightclub which might be well under the value of a new car may still be appealing to the lad.
Definitely worth pursuing.
Sure - you could do what you want. The poster could be seen as misleading. Just speaks to the fact that it's unwise to read into anything without terms and conditions 
MelissaLee1 Agreed, Advertising Standards Agency first, to see what they say.
Then maybe a Solicitor.
SaveMeSunday I wonder if they are going by the mantra "Any Publicity is good Publicity"
If I were of nightclub visiting age I'd be damn sure to boycott them.
I would be a bit annoyed by this, suppose it depends on circumstances surrounding the purchase of the tickets at the time , but just on the basis of the Advert and the fact that the prize is being offered by a Nightclub not a Toy store, I would have assumed it was a real car, after all what interest is a toy car to the vast majority of their clientele ,to me it looks like they did set out to mislead in the first place.
Mango4 Absolutely, they'd have a far better argument if they weren't an establishment that caters mainly for young Adults.
A certain dance group my 2 great neices attend near Crystal Peaks,Sheffield advertised a competition to win a child's party for 1.5 hours worth £200..
The younger of my Great Niece's won & they said that she was too young for this party. My Niece sent a strong letter to them & they came to a compromise with her so her little girl didn't lose out..
These people do seem to like to try and wiggle out of commitments or promises anyway they can.
blacklabrador ...Yes they do but they hadn't dealt with my Niece, who after leaving her iPhone in a taxi while travelling with her daughters 3 & 5 tracked her phone down,drove her husband 's car to the address & took photos of the taxi. She then looked up the driver's information on line & sent him a message telling him if her phone wasn't returned by that night she would send the police around..Guess who got her phone back!
The same Niece had her Mercedes with her personalised Number Plate stolen from her drive in a keyless theft on a nice estate after the scum cut her cameras wires & calmly just drove her £17,000 car out of her drive on outskirts of Sheffield just days earlier so she wasn't going to let her phone go! Niece only got £10,000 for a new car,the kids bikes & a brand new scooter worth £200 in back of stolen car weren't paid out for.
The scum also tried coming back for Niece's husband's more expensive car following night but the key had been moved to a metal box so they might have cut the camera wires but didn't get the car!
janphoenix51 I went out for a walk today, and noticed how many people seemed to have parked a cheapish car lengthways blocking their driveways, so that stealing the more expensive cars and work vans at the property was a lot more difficult.
What a sad state of affairs.
I would have been gutted this is my kind of luck its shocking a company would do this
kate1310 It just feels mean spirited to raise peoples hopes that they may win a car only to pull the rug from under them
It says win a car not win a toy car or anything clear about what it is. I think they should not get away with it. Surely there should be some rules when selling something (tickets) etc. Should be reported somewhere or ask a lawyer.
I'll try and find a follow up story to it so that we can see how it was resolved.
janphoenix51 I'll just go and fetch my glasses, but that looks a lot like a £150,000 Aston Martin 
blacklabrador ..I did add the reason why I used this photo but for some reason it didn't show this morning.
The little lad is my Great Nephew in the Little Tikes Cozy Coup..
It's supposed to be a Little Tikes competition where you win a Cozy Coup & a slide
Obviously my Niece shared the photo to her family & friends so I commented to my friend & her daughter that this is my Great Nephew.
Next time I look there's a message telling me I had won & to claim my prize only they wanted my Bank Details..Errr NO I don't think so,I don't give them to just anyone!!
I don't need the prize but if I had won I would have donated it to my daughter's old primary or a local playgroup so all the kids can enjoy it like I did with some of daughter's ride on toys which were like new.
janphoenix51 Sadly a scammer sounds like they replied to your message. This happens a lot on social media, even people creating clone pages to scam people. Facebook is so bad for this but instagram is worse. It is a shame people click on the links that can take them to dodgy pages as they think they are claiming something.
When the actual company usually has nothing to do with it and would only usually ask for a name and postal address, on the odd occasion they need a mobile number for tracking purposes.
Sadly in many countries people are 'trained' to become scammers and claim it to be their occupation, when in fact it is just stealing, usually from people that have worked hard for it. 
Often scammers will tell you you've won before the actual end date of the competition, that is a big give away.
DeBunny ..
Exactly why I clicked off ,should I let my Niece know as its her little lad in the Cozy Coup photo which is being used,I think I should,even his Nan
(( My baby sister) put a message about him taking his car everywhere so she had to buy one for her house.
I'd be so so angry. It's really annoying when I've won a small prize and don't receive it because it goes missing in the post. So if something like this happened I'd be furious. It's definitely misleading to say the least. Certainly not a picture of a yellow and red pedal car. I'd be seeing a solicitor.
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