2,500 job losses as Specialist Leisure Group goes into administration
Specialist Leisure Group has gone into administration, blaming the impact of Covid-19.
The group had over 64,000 bookings, the vast majority of which were coach package holidays.
It had five companies, including Shearings Holidays, which has been operating for 100 years.
It also had Wallace Arnold Travel, National Holidays trading as Caledonian Travel and Travel Style, UK Breakaways, Shearings Hotels trading as Bay Hotels and Coach and Country Hotels.
Wallace Arnold Travel acted as an agent for other suppliers and ABTA said these bookings will go ahead as normal, except where the bookings have been made with other companies within the Specialist Leisure Group.
John de Vial, ABTA director of membership and financial services, said: "The Specialist Leisure Group included two of the UK’s best known coach holiday brands, Shearings and National Holidays, two much loved holiday companies who for many years have provided holidays both at home and overseas to a very loyal group of customers.
"Today is a very sad day for these customers and the thousands of staff who will have lost their jobs.
"The fact that two such well-known brands with a loyal customer base have had to call in administrators is a stark indication of the pressure that the holiday industry is under as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. ABTA has repeatedly highlighted to the Government the urgency of the situation and the need to set out a coordinated strategy with clearer communication if it wants to help avoid significant job losses and support companies to weather the storm."
All package holiday bookings are financially protected so customers with these bookings will receive a full refund, with coach packages protected by the Confederation of Passenger Transport.
Shearings also offered a small number of flight package holidays which are ATOL protected and will be processed by the CAA.
Customers with forward bookings for Shearings Holidays, National Holidays trading as Caledonian and Travel Style, UK Breakaways and Shearings Hotels trading as Bay Hotels and Coach and Country Hotels should go to https://www.specialistleisuregroup.com and follow the instructions on how to progress a claim.
For customers with an ATOL certificate, customers should go to https://www.caa.co.uk/ATOL-protection/Make-an-ATOL-claim/Latest-ATOL-holder-failures/ to start the refund process.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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