Taxpayer should not bail out HF Holidays

Taxpayer should not bail out HF Holidays

I READ HF Holidays’ Peter Chapman’s comments on the foot and mouth crisis with some incredulity (Travel Weekly March 26).

It has affected his business like everyone else’s but why should I, as a taxpayer, be expected to bail him out for his lack of foresight in covering such events by insurance?

We have had to close our walking centre in the Lake District and have braced ourselves to the prospect that it will be closed for the summer. We have contingency plans that the time can bewell used to upgrade the property and we will take the loss of revenue in our stride. Perhaps our approach has been more business like than a company that claims to be “the world’s leading walking holiday company”.

Its Air Travel Organiser’s Licence allows just 4,945 passengers. Perhaps HFHolidays should have spent more time studying its business risks than boasting.

He then says that the ‘clean’ areas of the country should be opened up. I have to take issue with this. I live on a farm in Hertfordshire – currently a foot and mouth-free county – but farmers are still terrified that some clown will bring the disease on to their farms.

An Irish agent I met over the weekend was appalled at the apathy the British have shown towards the crisis. If we had been as tough as the Irish from the start we would not have got into this absurd state.

The Government has let us down badly while its mind is on election issues, and companies such as HF Holidays seem only to wish to prolong the agony, or even make it worse.

So, Peter Chapman, brace yourself for a dead summer. You should have ensured that you had sufficient reserves to cover you without resorting to taxpayers’ money.

Stuart Alderman

Ramblers Holidays

Welwyn Garden City

Hertfordshire