Virus-struck homeworker seals £133,000 booking


Juliet Dennis


O Stansted created a 10×7m ‘Thank you NHS’ message on its airfield in tribute to health workers.


A travel agent made a £133,000 booking while in self-isolation after contracting the coronavirus. Travel Counsellors homeworker


Barbara Court received a call from an existing client on her first day in self- isolation in her spare bedroom after contracting a dry cough and suffering a tight chest and exhaustion. The mum-of-two spent six days


O Homeworkers from Midcounties’ Personal Travel Agents have launched an online initiative to entertain and educate children while they are being home- schooled. ‘Tom The Traveller’ features puzzles, games, quizzes and brain-teasers.


putting together an 11-day package of flights and accommodation for a family group of 14 to Barbados over Christmas and New Year, booking them to stay all-inclusive at Elegant Hotels’ Tamarind resort. During this time, Court was


unable to be close to her husband and children, aged nine and 11, who could only wave at her from her door. At one point she was so ill, she was on the verge of going into hospital. She said: “I made the booking in


O Sister brands Sandals and Beaches Resorts are offering a 10% discount for NHS workers to thank them for their work during the coronavirus pandemic.


O A travel agent spurred Jet2holidays to prioritise the rebooking of an NHS nurse and her husband who works as a supermarket delivery driver. Jo Boden (pictured), of Your Holiday Booking, enlisted the support of fellow travel industry professionals on social media and Travel Weekly to successfully prompt Jet2holidays to rebook the couple for summer 2021.


the first seven days [of isolation]. I felt tired, had a dry cough and was breathless, but could work. “One of my clients said her dad


wanted to take the family away for Christmas; he felt life was too short. “We settled on Barbados and booked five rooms, two with


Barbara Court


I made the booking


in the first seven days [of isolation]. I was breathless and had a cough but could work


interconnecting family rooms, two rooms for the older siblings, and a luxury ocean suite. They got other quotes but booked with me because of the service they got.” Just a couple of days later, Court


fell seriously ill and had to stop working. She recalled: “I crashed on


Furlough scheme deadline could


trigger redundancies, warns CBI Travel firms could be forced to start redundancy proceedings by Saturday, April 18, unless the government extends its Job Retention Scheme. The furlough scheme, which pays 80% of an employee’s monthly salary, is currently offered until June 1. But the Confederation of British Industry said unless the scheme was extended, larger travel firms proposing 100-plus redundancies would have to start the required 45-day consultation period by April 18.


8 16 APRIL 2020


day 10 with a pounding in my chest and back, and got very ill. The doctor was going to send an ambulance, but I said while I could still breathe OK I’d stay home. “It was my wedding anniversary


last week but we had to have air kisses and virtual hugs.” Court joined Travel Counsellors


in December after 10 years out of the workplace. She previously worked as an executive PA. Nearly a month after falling ill, she


is starting to get back on her feet. She said: “I’m wiped out but am


now out of the danger zone – I’m one of the lucky ones.”


Scottish agency leaders lobby for


equal access to £25k business grant Scottish travel agents are being “let down” as they can only claim one £25,000 small business grant, no matter how many branches they have. The president of the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association, Joanne Dooey, who runs three-branch Love To Travel, warned there would be “many business casualties” north of the border if the scheme was not extended in line with England, where firms can apply for the grant for each shop in their retail networks. Barrhead Travel, which has more than 30 branches in Scotland, backed Dooey’s calls.


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