A recently-opened agency is being investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) after falsely claiming its holidays were protected under ATOL.
Think Travel in Ledbury claimed on its website’s ‘about us’ section that its ATOL licence allows it to package flights, accommodation and car hire with “full protection”.
Partner Tina Welch said the agency, which opened six weeks ago, had been planning to join the Travel Trust Association’s T-ATOL scheme, but later decided not to. However, the ‘about us’ details on the website were changed only last week, removing the reference to ATOL.
Welch said: “We were thinking of applying for one but decided not to package our own holidays. We are selling only traditional packages. We haven’t sold any of our own packages under ATOL so we haven’t done anything wrong.”
However, a CAA spokesman said that as the agency did not hold an ATOL licence, it would be looking into the matter. “This is something we take seriously and want to crack down on,” he said.
TTA founding director Steve Clark said: “If something had gone wrong we would have honoured the contract to customers, even though the ATOL was not technically in place. It is clear it was a genuine mistake on the part of the agency, as it was planning to join the T-ATOL scheme. However, it should not have gone on the site until the ATOL was granted.”