A group of friends were left “seething” after losing £11,000 when the travel agent they booked a “holiday of a lifetime” with went into liquidation.
But the Caerphilly women did not let Kent-based Blue Skies Travel (UK) Ltd beat them, and celebrated their collective 50th birthdays in style in New York, after a friend of the group loaned them the cash to rebook the holiday.
The friends, all born in 1964 and 65, had forked out £750 each for the three-day trip.
They were left “heartbroken” when the travel company collapsed months before they were set to fly to America.
Despite them paying for flights, hotels and theatre tickets, the company’s director Clive Allard had not booked anything or paid a single penny to any firm.
His company, which also shared a phone number with Bright Skies Travel and Fly Vacations, went under owing consumers almost £415,000 in un-booked holidays.
Despite paying for their deposit on protected Visa cards, the majority of the holiday was paid by bank transfer after Allard claimed that if they paid quickly, the group would receive a booklet of £70 worth of vouchers to use on the trip.
Businesswoman Mandy Weston, 50, who booked the trip, was left with more anger when it transpired that Allard’s wife – the company’s sole shareholder – resigned from the firm on the same day the bogus voucher claim was made.
It has also been revealed that another company of his, Travellers Cities, collapsed in 2012, leading to complaints to the police by consumers.
Ms Weston said she could not understand how Allard was able to sell holidays so soon after his other company collapsed and questioned how the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing scheme (ATOL) had dealt with the issue.
Ms Weston said: “I am seething. What breaks my heart is how he can get away with ripping off £415,000 from people.
“This was a holiday of a lifetime, but some people lost their weddings. I can’t believe that suspicion wasn’t raised.
“He should go to prison for what he’s done, he really should. I don’t think there’s a hope in hell of us getting money back from the creditors.
“How is he allowed to get away with setting up and closing travel companies. ATOL is supposed to protect against this sort of thing.”
Luckily for the party, their three years of saving was not completely in vain and they have just returned from their trip, but Ms Weston is determined to get justice.
Before travelling, she told Caerphilly Observer: “Somebody saw how heartbroken we were and that we couldn’t go, so a friend of a friend said we could have a loan for the trip and pay back monthly.
“This £750 trip is now costing £1,500, but we didn’t want this guy to beat us. Morgan Travel in Caerphilly has been amazing and has got us the same deal with a better hotel – he’s been a saint.
“We are going on the trip and we are going to worry about it when we get back.
“I’m not going to give up. I want criminal compensation.”
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, of which ATOL is a part of, said: “We can confirm we have received a number of complaints from customers who have booked with Bright Skies Travel, which we are looking into.”
Action Fraud confirmed they had received a complaint from Ms Weston and passed it onto the Metropolitan Police.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: “We are investigating a travel company based in Kent relating to a number of allegations of fraud against that company. At this stage we’ve made no arrests and inquiries continue.”
• Blue Skies Travel (UK) Ltd is in no way connected or related to Cardiff-based Blue Skies Travel.
I hope the people recoup their money but I a fear that will not be the case. Maybe thier insurance can help.
The moral of the story is to book with a national company unlikely to enter sudden liquidation, or book separately without using a travel agent using your insurance company to back each one up.