Travel firm closed down

The company promised people a luxury break

A travel company which was investigated for failing to deliver promised luxury breaks has been wound up at the High Court in London.

The trade and industry secretary had presented petitions to wind up Holidays Direct Travel Ltd and its parent company Incentive Marketing Ltd of Longnor, Staffordshire, after a department investigation.

The company sent letters telling people they had won a luxury break which they could claim by sending a small fee to an address in Bournemouth, Dorset.

Although some people were later offered holidays, trading standards officials in Dorset alone received 5,000 calls from people worried about whether they would receive the breaks.

I've never been abroad before and I was really excited. I'd chosen clothes and saved holiday money to be able to go

Julie Morgan

Counsel Nicholas Caddick, estimated that £3.5 million was sent to the company but only £1.79 million had been traced in bank accounts.

By September this year, only 25 to 30 people had actually received holidays out of 65,000 who responded to the letters.

Mr Caddick said: "This is obviously a highly profitable venture for those involved in this company but highly unsatisfactory for members of the public."

The companies were not represented at the brief hearing.

Melanie Johnson, Minister for Competition, Consumers and Markets, said later: "This judgment will be some comfort to the many people who have lost money to know that this firm has been put out of business once and for all."

Travel surcharges

Cleaner Julie Morgan, 36, of Hove, East Sussex, responded to the Holidays Direct offer.

Believing she had won a holiday in a competition, she sent off the £29.50 fees for her and her partner Buster Smith for a week-long break in Malta.

She said: "I've never been abroad before and I was really excited. I'd chosen clothes and saved holiday money to be able to go," she said.

But when she tried to call the firm after the cheque was cashed, all she got was an answer phone telling her to call a number, which turned out to be vacant.

"I was devastated and wanted to cry," she said.

No reply

Victor McNeil, 56, from Northfield, Birmingham, also thought his planned holiday to Faro, Portugal, with Holidays Direct would cost £29.50 per person.

He sent off his cheque, but then received a letter saying the break would cost an extra £229.90.

He and his wife Lynn, 42, would have to pay £79.90 insurance, transfers of £80 and airport surcharges of £70 to go on their seven-day holiday.

Mr McNeil, who suffers from arthritis and back trouble and does not work, said: "It just kept getting more expensive. First it was £29.50 and now it's going to cost £229.90."

When mother-of-six Marie Pervaiz, 39, of Accrington, Lancashire, received the Holiday Direct pamphlet she immediately sent off her £59 "administration fee".

What the offer failed to explain was that she would be charged £79.90 insurance, £70 airport tax and £169 for "recommended" car hire.

Kim Fletcher, from Kingstanding, Birmingham, sent off £29.50 in August but never got a reply.

She said: "I enter lots of competitions so it did seem possible that I had won something. They took the money quick enough, but I have yet to receive my holiday."