Preston Travel company goes out of business
A travel agent specialising in holidays to the Channel Islands has gone out of business, the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has confirmed.
About 144 tourists are thought to be on holiday with Preston Travel at the moment, including an unconfirmed number in the Channel Islands.
The Barnet-based company also provides travel to the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly.
Preston Travel employs about 30 staff in the UK and overseas.
An ABTA spokesman said although Preston had ceased trading, those on holiday would have the rest of their stay and travel covered "to save them the inconvenience of claiming or paying again".
Sean Tipton said it was a sad time for Preston, for hotels, and for holidaymakers.
"They were a very important company for the Channel Islands, they have been going for nearly 50 years and were clearly the market leader," he said.
"In terms of forward business they had about 4,500 customers waiting to travel, not all to the islands, but they are all now cancelled."
Bill Dolan, chairman of Jersey based Dolan Hotels group, said it had been an important company to the local market.
He said: "It is far too early to know what any impact will be, but the hope is those customers with bookings will be able to re-book with another operator."
John de Vial from ABTA said those with a booking should contact them for more details on making a claim.
"ABTA will be arranging swift refunds for anyone who has booked a non-flight based package or accommodation-only booking," he said.