Tens of thousands of Goldtrail Holidays customers’ claims could be rejected by the Civil Aviation Authority on the basis of incorrect travel agency paperwork, Travel Weekly understands.
A number of leading agencies have received letters from the CAA saying it will reject claims because it was not satisfied with how the agencies issued their documentation.
Travel Weekly understands the CAA has claimed agents failed to provide customers with an Atol receipt from Goldtrail and so the regulator was not satisfied they were acting as agents, rather than principals. The authority also claimed Goldtrail was not paying the £2.50 Atol Protection Contribution levy.
It is thought agencies who do not hold an Atol or did not take up the CAA’s deal with Atol holders over Goldtrail repatriation costs have, or are due to, receive these letters.
Travel Weekly contacted several of the agencies thought to have received the letter but none were prepared to comment as they were involved in negotiations with the CAA.
The CAA thrashed out a deal last month with around 20 agencies in which it agreed to split the cost of repatriating customers after the Goldtrail collapse.
Those retailers had been put on Atol-to-Atol invoicing terms by Goldtrail but had not been notified of the change and some were unaware of it until the company collapsed.
However, several of these retailers have not taken up the CAA’s offer and are now facing the prospect of all their claims being rejected.
A source said the CAA’s letter listed a number of factors to back up its refusal to pay out, but that it did offer agencies an “olive branch” and that a compromise was likely to be agreed.
A spokeswoman for the CAA would not confirm that it had contacted the agencies. She said: “All valid Goldtrail claims will be met by the Air Travel Trust.”
The collapse of Goldtrail has once again highlighted issues around the industry’s sales documentation and paperwork. Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer would not comment on the specifics of the dispute arising from the Goldtrail collapse.
But he confirmed the association had updated the guidance on its website about how members should produce paperwork to ensure they are acting as agents for the Atol holder.
He said: “This comes down to individual businesses’ paperwork. You cannot really generalise as to whether the consumer had a genuine contract with Goldtrail.
“The position of the [Air Travel Trust fund] trustees is there has to be a contract between the consumer and the Atol holder.”
Writing on Travolution after the collapse, Whitehart Associates senior partner Chris Photi said many agents and operators are failing to issue the correct documentation.
Abta is due to publish its response to the CAA’s consultation on its handling of consumer claims today.