ABTA
has called in the police after an alleged fraud involving two Blackpool travel
agencies left Newman Street facing a bill of at least £500,000.
Detectives
are investigating the collapse of Nairn Tours and Layton Travel this month,
believing the companies had been making up split-contract packages but failing
to secure accommodation.
At
least 600 clients are believed to have been affected, and ABTA said there is
“considerable concern” about the size of the bill it is likely to face.
Many
holidaymakers are understood to have paid upfront after being attracted by
discounts of up to 75%. A full list of the two companies’ clients is now being
compiled.
ABTA
head of finance Mike Monk said the Association was unsure how many clients had
been caught up in the collapse of the agencies.
“Lots
of clients are still abroad, so we can’t say exactly what the final call on
ABTA will be,” said Monk. “In a league table of failures, this one is certainly
in the top 12. We believe there’s been some fraudulent trading, especially
where Nairn Tours is concerned.”
Examples
of unbooked holidays include a group of eight who travelled to Palma Nova but
were thrown out of their apartment after one night because their room bill had
not been paid. They had to fork out £1,900 to stay on.
Blackpool
detectives are focusing on the relationship between Nairn Tours and Layton
Travel. Both also traded as either Holiday Village or Holiday Hut and are
believed to have been linked by one man who had a stake in both companies.
Nairn
Travel was thrown out of Worldchoice in June when its new owner failed to put
up a bond. The consortium is likely to face a £40,000 bill as a result of the
collapse.
Worldchoice
general manager Chris Fife said: “We alerted operators that Nairn Travel hadn’t
responded to our letters and that its membership had been taken away.
“Layton Travel was a Worldchoice member when it ceased
trading, but we were unaware of the relationship between the two agencies.”