Travel Click fails but ‘protection assured’

Travel Click fails but ‘protection assured’

Abta and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were confident all clients of the failed Travel Click Holidays would be financially protected.

Abta and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were confident all clients of the failed Travel Click Holidays would be financially protected.

The Enfield-based agency collapsed last Friday. It was an Abta member and held a Small Business Atol licence for up to 500 customers.

The CAA said fewer than 30 clients were abroad when the company failed and it was expecting claims from 200 customers with forward bookings. A spokesman said: “All passengers should be protected.”

Abta said all bookings the firm made as an agent would be honoured and clients’ holidays would go ahead. A spokesman said: “We don’t expect anyone to be left out of pocket.”

A forum on Holidaywatchdog.com, started in June, included a number of complaints from customers claiming to have bought Travel Click holidays via deals sites such as Travelzoo and Secret Escapes.

In some cases their holidays had been cancelled at short notice with no refund.

Some customers accused the CAA, Abta and the third-party websites of failing to take action in the weeks leading up the failure.

Secret Escapes managing director Tom Valentine said: “Now they’ve ceased trading it’s much easier for us to help clients who have a claim.

“Before that, we were only able to support people with their complaints.”

An Abta spokesman said its consumer affairs department received a small number of complaints from consumers and had offered assistance.