Fraud squad probes holiday firm

Thousands may have had their holidays ruined

The fraud squad is investigating a travel firm over fears thousands of people may have paid for holidays that were never booked.

Detectives are linking five websites trading under the names Fleetwood Holidays Ltd or Sun Orient Ltd, which were based in Islington, north London.

About 100 complaints have been received locally, but police have said thousands nationally may have lost money.

The firm shut its offices last weekend and left no forwarding details.

The website addresses are no longer active.

The five websites being investigated are:

• www.sunmedresorts.com

• www.unbeatableholidays.com

• www.holidaysforunder200pounds.com

• www.holidayrez.com

• www.holidayez.com

The government's consumer advice service Consumer Direct has been flooded with calls.

Islington Trading Standards had taken 70 calls by Wednesday, but across England it is thought thousands of people's holidays may be in jeopardy.

As the firm was not linked to the ATOL (Air Travel Organisers' Licensing) nor ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents), customers are not entitled to redress from them.

Some customers have emailed the Holiday Watchdog website to report losses of up to £1,545 each.

How do these people sleep at night? Message on Holiday Watchdog site

They include one woman who said she had booked her honeymoon through the Unbeatable Holidays website, only to hear on her wedding day it had been cancelled.

She wrote: "How do these people sleep at night? The best day of our lives was followed very quickly with nothing but tears."

Those who have booked with credit cards are advised to contact their credit card company for redress under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We believe that the companies are being registered and run for a short length of time and then replaced by newly named companies when the first company stops "trading" in order for the fraud to be continued.

"There may be several thousand customers who may be victim to this fraud."

It is not known how long the company had been operating out of its Islington office, but the council said most bookings had been made between April and August.

The first complaints were received on Monday, the day after the firm is believed to have left its offices.