Barwell Travel abandons clients
Customers of collapsed operator Barwell Travel have been left in limbo after being told that the financial failure insurance they were sold as part of their packages will not necessarily cover the cost of their holidays.
Although a message on Barwell Travel’s website tells clients who had already paid for holidays to contact insurers Towergate Chapman Stevens, a spokesman for the insurance company said today it was unsure if they were protected.
"We have requested our number be taken off the Barwell website because we can’t do anything until the company is declared insolvent, which won’t be until October 1," said a spokesman for Towergate Chapman Stevens.
"Customers were given financial failure insurance as part of their holidays but we don’t know if those due to travel before October 1 will be able to claim refunds as, right now, the company has not been made insolvent."
He said customers of the collapsed holiday firm, which sold holidays to La Manga Club in Spain, were being redirected to administrators Bridge Business Recovery on 020 7025 6130.
James Carr of Bridge Business Recovery confirmed there was no rescue plan for Barwell, which will be declared insolvent on October 1, but he said the firm was unable to advise customers in the meantime.
"It’s terrible, people were calling us from abroad yesterday saying that they forced to pay again for their accommodation, but we can’t do anything to help them," said Carr.
"We are not dealing with the failure either, so we are telling customers to claim on their credit cards or their insurance, but we don’t know if they can claim until the company is insolvent."
Barwell was not an ABTA member.
Although Barwell Travel had an ATOL, it was licensed to sell just 600 packages a year and it is believed the majority of its bookings were for accommodation-only at La Manga Club, which would not have been protected.
The Civil Aviation Authority is investigating the collapse and a spokesman said today it was still unclear if any of Barwell’s customers were protected. "To my knowledge we haven’t had any calls from customers inquiring about the collapse," he added.
Barwell, founded 40 years ago, had temporarily ceased trading in 2008, but was bought at the last minute by LeisureFare, a tailormade specialist and consolidator with a call centre in London, though it continued to operate independently.
No-one from parent LeisureFare was available for comment today.
By Linsey McNeill and Bev Fearis
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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