Visit Wales Apology To Wales Outdoors Received But Certainly Not Accepted

Dear Mr Lamb,

I understand that in his investigation of your case for the Stage 2 complaints procedure, xxxx found that ‘in this instance and with the amount of time and correspondence that has happened, officials should have referred you to the Stage 2 process at an earlier time.’

I apologise for this oversight and accept that you should have been made aware of the complaints procedure sooner. I will be reminding all Visit Wales staff of the Welsh Government guidance around handling complaints, and will iterate the importance of referring correspondents to the procedure when necessary.

Yours sincerely,

Heledd Owen.

And my response…

Hi Heledd, but that really is not good enough. This round of complaining, basically about the same issue as since 2006 onwards, a level playing field, began in March 2020. Staff throughout the Visit Wales department have been involved, from onboarding data input staff through to Jason Thomas. Not only that, there has been a court case and the ministers have been informed and have communicated with me on various occasions, my MP has asked questions (which remain unanswered) and I have now had a meeting with my MS, Mark Drakeford. 

What an immense waste of time and effort by all involved, particularly by me. 

I believe this was not referred earlier, not through oversight, but by design. If oversight then you expect me to believe that every member of staff working for Visit Wales, from data input, through Jon and Glyn to yourself and Steffan, and including Jason Thomas, Dawn Bowden and Vaughan Gething, all 'forgot' about how to properly deal with a complainant? I simply do not believe that. 

As 'the points Andy raises are almost always valid ones' (quote from your staff revealed by an FOI), I believe that you all know that Visit Wales is not fit for purpose and that in full knowledge it breaks its own rules, delivering a platform for some but not others. This is why there was no referral to the Stage 2 Complaints procedure as the next step, which is where we are now, is the independent Ombudsman for Wales.

Further, I have asked on multiple occasions and from sources from Dawn Bowden down for the protocols for referring to stage 2 and I have been ignored. Either you have guidance or you do not. I would suggest you do but in any case, it's irrelevant now. 

The question has to be asked, what about my time in this matter? Do you not feel collectively and may I suggest personally responsible for the efforts that I have had to go through to get to this point? All the while asking for a meeting with you, to go through my evidenced complaints about your department platforming businesses that its own rules preclude from inclusion whilst maintaining a firm stance on not platforming my business, Wales Outdoors. And those requests to meet from August 2023 onwards, were all ignored, as most of the emails were, and following our meeting in 2022 where promises were made and not delivered. Steffan arranged the meeting of November 2023, not because he wanted to be involved, but because I was applying pressure through attendance at roadshows, lobbying politicians, commenting on Visit Wales tweets and contacting tourism leaders in Wales. 

If Visit Wales staff had done as promised, in 2022, then none of this would have been necessary. If the complaint had been referred to the stage 2 complaints procedure then none of this would have been necessary. 

An apology then, received with thanks, is, as I stated, not good enough. My business, and dare I say health have suffered because of this complaint and I have put hundreds of man-hours into simply asking Visit Wales to work to their own rules, which by the way, you are still failing miserably at. 

I think that the right thing for the Welsh Government to do at this stage is to agree compensation with me and to apply all efforts into restructuring the Visit Wales sites to ensure that the issues I raise are permanently addressed.

You can book our walks through the Wales Outdoors Website or, if you are a group, you can book us for a bespoke adventure, you choose the date and time, using the ‘Book Your Guide’ option.

1. Subscribing monthly via Substack

2. Making a one-off contribution via BuyMeACoffee

Your support is what allows these articles to keep being created and is enormously appreciated. Thank you.