Police asked to probe Clive Allard’s travel company

Police have been asked to investigate a travel company run by Clive Allard, the former boss of Travellers Cities which collapsed two years ago leaving agents out of pocket.

Kent-based Blue Skies Travel (UK) is also being investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority following complaints from customers who booked holidays to the US with Blue Skies Travel (UK), also trading as Bright Skies Travel and Fly Vacations.

Action Fraud confirmed yesterday that it has referred complaints about Blue Skies Travel (UK) and Bright Skies Travel to the Met Police.  

Customers have accused Allard of taking money for flights but failing to confirm reservations with the airlines. Some say they were never issued with an ATOL, despite claims by Blue Skies Travel (UK) that it was acting as an agent for ATOL-holder Major Travel.

Major Travel managing director Mark Widdowson confirmed that Blue Skies had made bookings that were protected by its ATOL number 2933 and these customers should have been issued with ATOL certificates.

However, Widdowson said it had no record of any bookings made by Bright Skies or Fly Vacations. Bright Skies’ website says it is the trading name of Blue Skies Travel (UK) and that it is acting as an agent for an ATOL holder, but no further details are given.

Widdowson said that due to the fact Blue Skies was not answering the phone ‘consistently’ Major Travel had been contacting customers directly to assist them with their bookings. He said anyone with bookings who didn’t know what to do should contact the company named on their ATOL certificate.

But some customers who booked packages with Bright Skies say they were never issued with the documentation, which is required by law.

One customer told TravelMole that her reservation on a flight to New York in November, booked with Bright Skies Travel, was cancelled by Virgin Atlantic. When she contacted the airline, it said Allard had failed to make the payment.

She immediately made contact with the travel agency, which had changed its name to Fly Vacations."Within seconds of sending the first paragraph Clive was on the phone saying it was an error on the part of Virgin and that he would call me back within the hour – that was the last I heard from him," she said.

She said she wasn’t issued with an ATOL-certificate despite having received an email from Allard prior to booking assuring her that her money would be protected by Major Travel’s ATOL. She also contacted the CAA on Monday.

Several other customers  have taken to TripAdvisor to voice their concerns after discovering that their flights reservations  didn’t exist and they were unable to contact Allard. The CAA said it was investigating their complaints.

One Belfast-based customer said his party who had booked flights to New York with Allard for travel on October 26 was considering taking a civil action against him after finding out that the flights had never been confirmed, despite paying more than £3,000.

The money was returned, however, after the party complained to Belfast police and their money that had been transferred to Allard’s bank account was frozen.

TravelMole has been unable to contact Allard. The company telephone number switches to voicemail and callers are unable to leave messages as the mailbox is full.

Blue Skies Travel (UK) is not connected to Cardiff-based Blue Skies Travel.