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NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Top legal expert backs Aito calls on ‘illegal’ sales


Lee Hayhurst lee.hayhurst@travelweekly.co.uk


Aito is demanding firms that sell packages illegally in the UK be prosecuted having secured the backing of the UK’s leading Trading Standards expert.


The association will demand a


crackdown by Trading Standards and the government supported by new legal advice from Jonathan Kirk QC, who edits a consumer law guidebook for lawyers. He has endorsed Aito’s view that the Package Travel Regulations


(PTRs) make it illegal for operators based outside of the EU to offer packages to UK-based customers without taking the full legal responsibilities of a tour operator. The Trading Standards


heavyweight has also agreed with Aito that UK-based advertising platforms and third parties targeting customers online or at trade shows are “aiding and abetting” the illegal trade. Aito chairman Derek Moore


said firms have been able to “cock a snook” at the law because of the challenges Trading Standards has enforcing the law on non-EU firms.


5 STORIES HOT


Derek Moore (left), Jonathan Kirk QC and Kirk’s co-authored trading standards law book


The new legal opinion will be used to put pressure on the authorities to act.


Moore said 2018 would mark the “end of the line for illegally operating traders from outside the EU”. New PTRs coming in in July will clarify the law and require non-EU firms to offer financial protection. The PTRs cover both licensable


sales – including flights and those covered by Atol – and non-licensable, which excludes flights but still come under UK


laws governing consumer rights and liabilities. Moore said: “We knew these


activities were illegal, but we wanted to find a more effective way to ensure the rules could be enforced. “In particular, we thought more could be done to hold the UK companies who make money from this illegal trade responsible. “We were right. There are clear


pathways that can be used to prosecute intermediaries.”


5 Turkey specialist agency collapses


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


A north London Atol-holder specialising in Turkey has ceased trading despite the boom in summer sales to the destination.


Agency Parade Travel and parent


firm Mert Selim folded on Friday. Travel Weekly understands the


agency had about 2,000 forward bookings, affecting 5,000 people, although no more than a handful appear to have been abroad. Stuart Barrett, Travelzoo head


of business development, was on a family holiday with Parade Travel when it failed, having flown from Manchester to Antalya on May 5. He heard rumours the company was in trouble the day before he was due to fly home last Saturday. Barrett checked out of his hotel


but his transfer did not turn up and he found his Thomas Cook flight had not been paid for. “Parade Travel had only paid


part of the cost,” he said. “I decided to buy new seats.” CAA head of Atol Andy Cohen told Travel Weekly: “It’s too soon


6 travelweekly.co.uk 17 May 2018


“Industry analyst GfK reported Turkey as the top-growth destination for summer 2018”


to say we are investigating. We’re trying to get all the information required to assist consumers.” However, the company’s failure ahead of the summer, when Turkey bookings have been on the rise, is bound to attract attention. Industry analyst GfK reported Turkey as the top-growth


destination for summer 2018 last month, and Tui Group chief executive Fritz Joussen last week said: “We are up in Turkey about 100% as a group in the last eight weeks. It is very healthy.” The Turkey specialist was set


up in 2013 and traded online as Gezinet London and Tours in Turkey as well as Parade Travel, whose website remained live on Tuesday. It was not an Abta member, but held an Atol for 1,479 holidays in the 12 months to September. Hakan Oner was the sole named director.


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