DUPED former travel agent Jitty Trehan has hailed a partial
victory in his fight with ABTA following the controversial collapse
of his business.
Trehan received more than £11,000 this week –
£5,000 more than he expected – from the £25,000
bond of his Chester-based agency Spear Business Travel.
Trehan sold the agency to suspected conmen in a deal brokered by a
former ABTA employee. The suspected conmen ran up debts of around
£19,000 on Trehan’s original bond. Trehan was only
expecting to recoup the remaining £6,000.
The extra £5,000 has been paid by ABTA’s Travel Agents
Fund. Strict ABTA rules on the processing of claims meant this
money could not be claimed from the bond.
There are a number of reasons why claims can be refused, usually as
a result of paperwork being incomplete.
While Trehan is pleased with the extra £5,000, which leaves
him with a total of £11,264, he has vowed to continue his
fight, which has already seen him dress up as comic strip superhero
Batman and chain himself up outside ABTA’s Newman Street
offices (Travel Weekly January 28).
“This just means I have to fight for £5,000 less,”
he said. “I will not give up and will continue to keep
hassling them.”
Trehan is also angry about having to pay £546 to process the
claims. “Why have I been charged an administration fee?
It’s ABTA’s job to process claims.”
ABTA chief executive Ian Reynolds hit back. “He is not
entitled to any more money,” he said.
“We have dealt with it the best way we can. It’s a just
call on the bond. It’s his liability. It was up to him to do
his due diligence.”