Villa Parade parent company Air Parade failed owing £6 million to creditors, according to the company’s liquidator.
Chris Brooksbank, insolvency practitioner at O’Haras, based in Cleckheaton, was formally appointed liquidator of parent company Air Parade at a creditors’ meeting last Thursday, May 29.
Around half of the monies owed were to customers, while the remaining £3 million are debts to private investors in the company and tax, he said.
Brooksbank could not comment on whether Villa Parade owed money to villa owners relating to contracts it lost in Marjorca. A court injunction taken out by Villa Parade against villa rentals firm Travelopo for emailing Villa Parade’s clients to say their bookings were no longer valid still stands.
He said: “My job is to realise the assets of the company and investigate why it ended up where it did. It’s far too early to tell what exactly has gone on and if monies were misappropriated.”
He added that the company had yet to decide whether it was “worthwhile” to proceed with any further legal action. “It depends whether we feel there will be any benefit; if there is no light at the end of the tunnel we will not do that,” he said.
All customers have been contacted by Abta and the Civil Aviation Authority, which are handling accommodation-only and flight packages respectively, prior to last week’s appointment, said Brooksbank.
The company held an Atol since 2001 and sold accommodation-only and packages, mainly to Spain and Portugal. It had up to 70 customers abroad and about 400 Atol-protected bookings of flight packages, as well as 1,300 forward bookings for accommodation-only.