By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A NARRE WARREN punter has beaten the odds and won an unlikely legal case against the TAB.
According to media reports, maths teacher Alan Feher successfully sued Tabcorp after staff at a Doveton pub incorrectly marked a horse, Clang and Bang, as a late scratching.
Mr Feher, 60, argued he had intended to pick the horse in his weekly quaddie selection on 24 August but decided against it after being told it was scratched.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) was told Mr Feher placed a $120 bet at the Prince Mark Hotel in Doveton roughly 10 minutes before the first race in his bet. Mr Feher picked three of the four subsequent winners and soon discovered that the scratched horse had also won.
After submitting an incorrectly stamped official list from the venue to Tabcorp and arguing he was entitled to half of the $2370 payout, Mr Feher took his complaint to VCAT.
At the hearing a lawyer for Tabcorp admitted head office had sent incorrect scratchings to agencies that day, but had corrected the error within one minute.
The tribunal heard that “for whatever reason” hotel staff did not update wall charts with the revised data.
Tabcorp argued it was “virtually impossible” for Mr Feher to prove he would have picked Clang And Bang.
Senior tribunal member Alan Vassie said he was persuaded by Mr Feher’s evidence under oath, including his home-grown punting system, but stopped short of awarding him the full claim.
