A bitter row has broken out between two Perthshire caravan companies over who is king of the road.
Family business Perthshire Caravans, based at Errol, scooped a Silver Award for customer satisfaction in the Practical Motorhome Awards 2014.
However, they were shocked to discover a nearby Perth firm had driven off with the prize instead.
Perthshire Motorhomes bragged about their award on Facebook, prompting Perthshire Caravans to ask them to acknowledge the win was not actually theirs.
This led to a second Facebook post from Perthshire Motorhomes which said: “Local competition not too happy at Perthshire Motorhomes performance … looks like they will need to get their skates on!!!”
However, manager Alistair Blyth said he believed the accolade had been earned fair and square although he did later take down the Facebook post after PracticalMotorhomes confirmed the award had been given in error.
He said: “It came through the post addressed to us and we put it up for publicity. People think we only sell used motorhomes but we also sell new ones overseas as well.”
Mr Blyth said the award is given to firms who are nominated by their customers so both firms could easily have won the same award.
“Perthshire Caravans are a completely different entity from us. We are a fairly small outfit,” he said.
“But we are in a competitive marketplace and I don’t think they are too happy about the competition.
“Basically, I don’t think we’ve done anything wrong. It’s not an award we put ourselves up for and I don’t see that we’ve done anything wrong.”
Practical Motorhome editor Niall Hampton acknowledged a mistake had been made.
He said: “The data collected for the sale of new motorhomes from Perthshire Caravans in Errol was incorrectly attributed to Perthshire Motorhomes in Perth when the data was summarised, so the Silver Award certificate that should have been awarded to Perthshire Caravans was sent to Perthshire Motorhomes in error.”
Claire McCormack from Perthshire Caravans said: “We’re delighted that the award is now with its rightful owner.
“Our company was set up in 1936 and is an extremely successful family business with an enviable reputation for outstanding customer service.
“The award means so much as it has been presented as a result of the feedback that new motorhome owners have given about us. For that we would like to say ‘thank you’.”