Trips to Turkey ruined as ScotTravel Holidays collapses

Jun 5 2009 by Tom Mullen, The Journal

HUNDREDS of families last night discovered their holiday plans were in ruins after a travel company went out of business.

ScotTravel Holidays Limited, which ran charter holidays from Newcastle to Turkey, ceased trading yesterday and all trips booked with the firm were immediately cancelled. It is believed up to 2,000 people had booked holidays with the company, departing at some time throughout the summer.

Families due to leave Newcastle International Airport on a 10pm flight last night only learned the news when they arrived at check-in desks.

Michael and Paula Thompson, of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, had booked a one-week holiday to the Turkish resort town of Icmeler, but were told their tickets were no longer valid. Michael, 46, who works for North East passenger transport authority Nexus, said: “We’d literally just arrived through the door of the airport when we found out.

“Our accommodation is OK because that was booked with a different company, but we have been told we will have to buy a new flight now. They said they can’t even tell us if there will be a return flight.”

Paula, 45, said: “The worse thing is we booked this a week ago, so you’d think someone could’ve warned us if there were problems.”

Carpenter Ian Moore and his girlfriend Sara Heron, of Dunston, Gateshead, spent £1,000 on a two-week holiday in Olu Deniz, and they too, were told they must pay for new flights last night.

Sara, 29, a charity worker, said: “We just booked it on the internet two months ago and we didn’t realise it was ScotTravel. We are going to lose a couple of hundred quid at least. We’re just lucky we’ve got a credit card, which we weren’t going to bring.” A family of five made the trip all the way from Middlesbrough only to find out the company had crashed. Doreen Thompson, 58, who arrived at the airport with husband, Leonard, niece Sarah, her partner Barry and one-year-old daughter Milly, had yet to receive any advice when they spoke to The Journal.

Mrs Thompson said: “We’ve got a number to ring but we’ve just been ringing for ages and we can’t even get through.”

It is thought up to 350 customers may already have travelled to Turkey with the company, which ran three weekly flights from Newcastle to Dalaman and Bodrum in Turkey. The Civil Aviation Authority is understood to be making arrangements for customers expecting to fly home from Turkey to stay in their accommodation and fly home as planned.

Travel agents are already working to try to find alternative flights and accommodation for those yet to travel.