Slap on the wrist for Valley agents

Hassett Estate Agents got a slap on the wrist last week from the Advertising Standards Authority, which judged that one of its advertisements was in breach of the Code of Advertising Standards. The offending ad was for the Eagle Valley development in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow and the ad rather optimistically claimed that the houses, which are in the Powerscourt Demesne, are "only 20 minutes from the city centre". Instead of going into mea culpa mode, which would seem the sensible option, Hassetts rather brazenly put forward the defence that "the advertisement had been running for nearly four years since the development commenced and traffic conditions had deteriorated dramatically since then"! Despite their protestations, the complaint was upheld.