Angry punter in legal battle with Betfair

The case revolves around Betfair's inability to settle bets quickly on Grand National day last year when they were processing about seven million transactions.

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Peter Constantinou, 60, a Cypriot who has lived in London for 24 years, won on the Grand National and then wanted to back Pangbourne who won the later champion bumper race at 28-1.

He said: "By the time the Pangbourne race came along I should have had £167 in my account. I wanted to place £20 each way on Pangbourne whom I had backed before.

"They didn't inform me they had a problem settling earlier bets. They kept accepting bets in all races before and after the Grand National but never paid out staked money and winnings until 6.50pm that evening, about two hours and 20 minutes after the race in question.

"There was only £5 left in my account which I staked on Pangbourne. I will have two witnesses who are William Hill betting shop managers who will confirm that I wished to back the horse.

"I am representing myself in Barnet Crown Court. I am sorry it has got this far but I want the truth to come out. They've accused me of being a liar in our negotiations. That is an insult to my character."

Constantinou's son Andy is a Betfair employee which makes the court action embarrassing for the family. Nevertheless, he is insisting on his day in court.

He says he has spent £10,000 setting up his own website, www.betdispute.com, to help punters learn about their rights in betting disputes.

Betfair spokesman Tony Calvin said: "We do not dispute Mr Constantinou's intentions and we agree that market settlement was delayed that day for several hours because we had to settle a huge volume of bets.

"In fact, we had put a notice on the site to let our users know that settlement would be delayed. But this doesn't mean we should pay people for bets they say they would have had if the funds tied up in the settlement process had been available to them.

"If we did we'd be out of business in a day. Anyone with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight could claim they'd have piled on, for example, Ireland to beat Pakistan, if only they had had the cash to do it.

"People can deposit funds with us for further bets or bet with another operator if they are so sure of an outcome."

TOM O'BRIEN landed a 383-1 treble at Warwick on Tuesday on Lincoln's Inn, Xila Fontenailles and Good Book to break Joe Tizzard's record of 91 winners in a season for a conditional jockey set in 1999. O'Brien now has 94 winners.