Journal: TWUK | Section: |
Title: | Issue Date: 11/09/00 |
Author: | Page Number: 5 |
Copyright: Other |
Creditors owed total of £3.1m over Hamilton Travel collapse
Report by TANYAJEFFERIES
DEFUNCT consolidator Hamilton Travel has outstanding debts of £3.1 million, according to liquidator PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The largest of the company’s 200 creditors is the International Air Transport Association. Its airline members are owed a total of around £2.8 million. IATA has refused to identify the airlines hit by the collapse of Hamilton or the extent of their individual losses, but said it would pursue the recovery of members’ money vigorously.
Another creditor is the Midconsort Travel Group. Its 200 agents have lost £8,800 between them in bonuses for hitting volume targets.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was appointed liquidator at a recent creditors’ meeting, now has the task of recovering as much money as possible and distributing it among creditors. It will also carry out an investigation into the cause of Hamilton’s collapse.
Managing director Mark Taylor has blamed its demise on an accounting blunder dating back five years, which led directors to believe it had more money than it really did (Travel Weekly July 21 and 28).
PricewaterhouseCoopers director Ian Oakley Smith said the extent of the error was believed to be between £1 million and £1.5 million, but he was unable to confirm this until he had looked into the matter more closely. He said it was possible the error dated back to 1993 or even before that. Oakley Smith hopes to make an initial report to the creditors’ committee in around three months’ time.
Meanwhile, PricewaterhouseCoopers is attempting to sell off Hamilton’s new extranet site, which has a book value of £1.1 million.
“It allows agents to search for and book flights, Eurostar trips, hotels and car hire over the Internet.
“There is a measure of interest in it. I would be disappointed if we didn’t get something for it,” said Oakley Smith.
Out of pocket: Taylor blames an accounting error for the demise of Hamilton, which has left IATA members being owed £2.8 million