NEWS 1


Rita Hunter says she is ‘wholeheartedly sorry’ for not being able to pay back monies owed to clients


YOU NEED TO KNOW


at a glance


l Fresh allegations have been made against convicted fraudster Rita Hunter.


l Merseyside Police confirms it has received reports from six holidaymakers that they lost money after paying for holidays which were not fufilled. Police have not named a company or any suspect.


l Hunter denies any allegations of fraud or wrongdoing and says she is determined to pay clients back.


Merseyside Police probe reports of bookings fraud


Juliet Dennis juliet.dennis@travelweekly.co.uk


Convicted fraudster Rita Hunter is facing fresh allegations of defrauding holidaymakers.


Merseyside Police confirmed


it was investigating six reports received relating to flights and accommodation booked through a third-party company but not supplied or paid for. Police have not named the company or suspects involved, but have urged victims to come forward. The six complainants, from the


West Midlands, Warwickshire, Merseyside and Yorkshire, said they paid for flights and hotels and either did not receive tickets or arrived in destinations to find accommodation had not been booked. In a statement, a police


spokesman said: “An investigation


into the reports is ongoing.” Travel Weekly has spoken to two complainants who alleged they paid Hunter for holidays which turned out to be bogus or had not been paid for, so had to pay twice. Both were issued with paperwork indicating flights, accommodation and transfers had been booked. When contacted by Travel Weekly


to discuss the new complaints, Hunter acknowledged she had taken bookings which had not been supplied but strongly denied any suggestion she had defrauded holidaymakers or acted improperly. She said she was “wholeheartedly


sorry” for not being able to pay back monies owed to clients and said she was a victim of circumstance. Hunter, who had been operating as a sole trader under the name


4 travelweekly.co.uk 14 December 2017


Platinum Travel, said she had now closed her business. She said her bank accounts


had been frozen which meant she could not repay clients. Her previous firm, Hunters


Travel, went bankrupt last year. Hunter insisted she had taken


only two to three bookings this summer and thought the holidays had been paid for. “I understand how these people


feel and I am determined to pay them back,” she said. Around 13 holidaymakers who claimed they booked holidays through Hunter have formed a closed group on WhatsApp. Between them they estimate they have lost £70,000. Couple Karl Mathers and Matthew Wright said they paid Hunter £5,600 for a holiday to Belek, Turkey, in July this year for


l Two claimants tell Travel Weekly they have not been refunded for holidays they claim they booked with Hunter.


l A group of 13 claimants forms a WhatsApp group and say they are owed around £70,000.


themselves and their son only to discover the day before departure the hotel had no reservation. They contacted Hunter, who


rebooked them, but when they left their hotel two weeks later they found it had not been paid and were charged €9,000 for the room. Another complainant, Jill


Stanton, who paid £3,600 for a seven-night holiday to Limassol, was told a week before departure the holiday was cancelled due to a travel agency cashflow issue. In both of these cases Hunter claimed her bank account had been frozen and she intended to repay the money. In September 2016, Hunter was


convicted of defrauding agency consortium Advantage Travel Partnership of tens of thousands of pounds. She was handed a suspended sentence.


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