Travel company Specialist Leisure Group Ltd, which includes two of the country?s most loved coach companies, Shearings and National Holidays, has gone into administration leading to tens of thousands of customers? holidays being cancelled and more than 2,500 job losses.
The impact of COVID-19 pandemic is believed to be the main reason behind the collapse of the Group, as it struggled to provide thousands of refunds for cancelled holidays while new bookings ground to a halt.
Two of the Group companies, Shearings and Wallace Arnold, were members of ABTA while National Holidays and UK Breakaways were members of the Confederation of Passenger Transport.
The Group had more than 64,000 bookings, the vast majority of which were coach package holidays. All package holiday bookings are financially protected so customers with these bookings will receive a full refund, with coach packages protected by the Confederation of Passenger Transport. Shearings also offered a small number of flight package holidays which are ATOL protected and will be processed by the CAA.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is believed to be the main reason behind the collapse of the Group, as it struggled to provide thousands of refunds for cancelled holidays while new bookings ground to a halt.
The Group contained five companies in total that sold holidays and other travel arrangements:
-Shearings Holidays Limited.
-Wallace Arnold Travel Limited.
-National Holidays Ltd trading as Caledonian Travel and Travel Style
-UK Breakaways Limited
-Shearings Hotels Ltd trading as Bay Hotels and Coach and Country Hotels.
John de Vial, ABTA director of membership and financial services said: ?It is a very sad day. The fact that two such well-known brands with a loyal customer base have had to call in administrators is a stark indication of the pressure that the holiday industry is under as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. ABTA has repeatedly highlighted to the Government the urgency of the situation and the need to set out a coordinated strategy with clearer communication if it wants to help avoid significant job losses and support companies to weather the storm.?
Image Credit: Phil Fiddyment/ Flickr
