Fife families feud with car firm after wedding mix-up

Tracy Dickson, mother of groom Stewart Dickson, says daughter-in-law Sandra was forced to get her brother to give her a lift to her wedding when the limo they booked left after an argument.

And Margaret Anderson saw her nephew and his bride, Cameron Smith and Rhiann MacDonald, hitch lifts from their wedding at Balgonie Castle to the reception at the Dean Park Hotel, Kirkcaldy, because the limo drove away.

Both incidents took place on Saturday – but a spokesman for the Kirkcaldy firm Executive Limos said it honoured bookings for times which had previously been agreed.

Tracy, of Denfield Gardens, Cardenden, said she paid £340 for two trips, the first leaving from her house with the groom’s party, stopping at Bowhill Hotel to pick up the groom and best man, then on to Balgeddie House Hotel for the wedding. The limo, which she said was booked from 3-4.30pm, was then to return for the bride.

Tracy said: “Executive Limos called the night before and said the booking had been changed from 3-4pm because the limo had to be in Kirkcaldy for 4.30pm.

“It turned up very early the next day, then just before it was about to leave the driver said he couldn’t come back for Sandra.

“She was gutted and my son is furious. It could have ruined the whole day.

“Ian’s Mini Coaches of Kinglassie were taking other guests and managed to put on more transport for us. If they hadn’t helped I’m not sure the wedding could have gone ahead.”

Margaret, who lives in Glenrothes, said she made her booking in February, paying £345 for a 12-seater limo for the wedding party.

A limo was booked for a 1pm pick up from the Dean Park Hotel for the groom and five groomsmen to be taken to Balgonie Castle for the wedding ceremony at 2pm, with the driver then waiting to take the wedding party back to the Dean Park Hotel for 4pm.

Margaret said: “At 3.15pm someone came running in and said the limo was not going to wait. The driver hadn’t come to speak to me about it.

“I was furious, I spoke to Executive Limos who said that the arrangement was that we were to be back at the Dean Park for 3.30pm because he had another hire, so the wedding party was stranded.

“The Dean Park had limos there and took extra people back but the groomsmen had to go on a guests’ bus.”

Both Tracy and Margaret have now asked for a refund.

A spokesman for Executive Limos said Saturday was “a disaster” but claimed both parties mixed up their times and had to stick to the previously agreed slots or there would have been a knock-on effect on other bookings.

He said: “Tracy had booked from 3-4pm and Margaret’s booking was from 1.15-3.15pm.

“A three hour booking would be much more than the £345 Margaret paid.

“There has been a mix-up on both occasions, but not on our behalf.

“Our driver refused to take Tracy’s party after an altercation in the street which he was quite within his rights to do, and the driver at Balgonie Castle was verbally threatened.

“Drivers can’t wait around all day and parties can’t go moving the goalposts like has happened here.

“We must stick to the agreed times and we make sure our jobs are always well spaced out.”

He said staff had received abusive messages and threats since the weekend.

“We’ve been doing this for 16 years very successfully and nothing like this has ever happened before.

“Our company won’t be defined by these two incidents.”