A COUPLE have won their fight to retain their membership fees in protest at the overcrowded facilities at a leading leisure centre.Michael and Julie White, of High Road, Trimley St Mary, successfully defended a claim made against them by Next Generation Clubs Ltd.

A COUPLE have won their fight to retain their membership fees in protest at the overcrowded facilities at a leading leisure centre.

Michael and Julie White, of High Road, Trimley St Mary, successfully defended a claim made against them by Next Generation Clubs Ltd.

The company wanted the couple to pay hundreds of pounds after they cancelled their direct debit and stopped using the club at The Havens, near Ipswich.

But a judge at Ipswich County Court ruled that the leisure club had failed to honour verbal promises made to the couple when they were given a tour before joining.

Judge Bazley White dismissed the company's claim and he ordered it to pay £110 costs to Mr White, a customs and excise worker at Felixstowe Port, and his wife, a shipping company accounts administrator.

In court Next Generation asked for £429.33, £60 court fees and £50 solicitor costs. The club argued that the minimum membership was for 12 calendar months and members could not terminate or suspend membership during that time.

The judge ruled that it was ''potentially unfair'' for the club to bind a member to a 12 month membership without being obliged to give a service. He said the club had failed to honour promises made before a contract was entered into and Mr and Mrs White were entitled to terminate the contract. He said he wanted the club to have the conditions redrawn by lawyers.

A spokeswoman for Next Generation said: ''Mr and Mrs White entered into a legal contract with Next Generation Clubs. However, the contract was deemed to be breached, the matter has gone through legal proceedings and has now been resolved. This is a private matter between Next Generation as a business and Mr and Mrs White.''

They stopped their direct debit in January and did not go to the club. Mr White said that, without any warning from the club, they received a letter from a credit agency demanding £426.