NEWS Covid-19 with collapse of Specialist Leisure Group. By Ben Ireland, Robin Searle and Lee Hayhurst


Administrators clarify bookings due refunds


Administrators have confirmed that all refund credit notes for package bookings made with Specialist Leisure Group brands are financially protected, with customers entitled to a cash refund. A statement on Shearings’ website,


now taken over by administrators EY, said “some Holiday Credit Notes” issued since March “may have the same financial protection as under their original booking”. The website gives the example


of a self-drive hotel stay as a type of booking where a credit note may not be protected – an ambiguity that was seized upon by critics of RCNs, including the Right to Refund campaign, which called on the CAA to clarify whether they were covered. Abta issued advice to Shearings


customers saying the “vast majority” of SLG’s brands’ 64,000 bookings were financially protected, adding that most were coach package bookings bonded and protected with the association. And the CAA confirmed that all


flight-inclusive package bookings were covered by the Atol scheme. However, accommodation-only


bookings with SLG’s hotel brands, self-drive holidays and activity-only bookings are not financially protected.


When approached by Travel Weekly,


a spokesman for EY confirmed that bookings previously cancelled by Shearings due to Covid-19 had the same protection as the bookings they had replaced, meaning all packages – whether flight-inclusive or not – were financially protected. The spokesman confirmed the


word ‘may’ on the website was used to indicate that credit notes issued in place of cancelled accommodation-only, self- drive and activity-only bookings were not financially protected, because the original booking was not a package so never had the same level of protection. Alan Bowen, legal advisor to the


Association of Atol Companies, said: “There’s no reason whatsoever to think that package refund credit notes wouldn’t be protected. Customers shouldn’t have any concerns.”


Country Living Hotels’ St George Hotel, Harrogate


WALLACE ARNOLD FOLDS


Agency Wallace Arnold Travel, which employed about 60 agents, was among the victims of the Specialist Leisure Group collapse last week. The Advantage Travel Partnership member was based primarily in


Yorkshire, with nine branches, in Wakefield, Sheffield, Chesterfield, Bradford, Castleford, Huddersfield, Rotherham, Halifax and York, as well as seven ‘pods’ in Morrisons supermarkets, in Brampton, Doncaster, Pontefract, Harrogate, Mansfield, Warrington and Bolton. Wallace Arnold Travel predominantly sold holidays provided by other SLG brands, but also booked holidays from third-party tour operators.


Coach body calls for state aid to ease threat to 40,000 jobs


The Coach Tourism Association has warned that 40,000 jobs in the sector could be at risk from the Covid-19 pandemic and called for a change to rules which currently prevent operators from claiming the same state aid as other businesses in the leisure industry. The CTA said its members generate an estimated £6 billion a year


for the economy, and issued its warning following the collapse of Shearings owner Specialist Leisure Group. Chairman John Wales called for coach operators to be reclassified


as part of the leisure industry, allowing them to access the same state fiscal aid as restaurants, hotels and pubs. He said: “Many of our coach operator members are being denied support that is being made available to other tourism businesses in terms of rates relief, which is crazy; our members’ whole business is about tourism and leisure.” Earlier this month, David Urquhart Travel announced plans to


wind up its coach tour operation and focus instead on its beach, cruise and city-break package business as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Abta’s director of membership and financial services, John de Vial,


called on the government to “urgently step in and provide support to the wider coach tourism industry”.


sells Shearings Holidays to a management buyout in 1996, backed by Bridgepoint Capital


2005: Venture capital firm 3i, which owns travel agency Wallace Arnold, purchases a controlling stake in Shearings


2013: Shearings’ passenger numbers grow to a then-record 1.05 million, with sales of £195m and a profit before tax of £5.8m


2014: 3i and Indigo Capital sell the business for an undisclosed figure to a management team led


by chief executive Denis Wormwell


2016: US investment company Lone Star Funds buys Shearings for an undisclosed sum


2017: Richard Calvert is appointed chief executive;


Shearings reports fourth successive year of record sales, profits and passenger numbers; Jane Atkins is appointed managing director of Shearings Holidays; commercial director Caroline Brown leaves after 20 years with the business


2018: Shearings Leisure Group, the holding company for Shearings Holidays, Coast & Country Hotels, National Holidays and other brands, renames as Specialist Leisure Group


May 2020: Specialist Leisure Group goes into administration


travelweekly.co.uk


28 MAY 2020


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