A travel company that owed almost 300 customers £592,000 for holidays it failed to deliver has been wound up by the High Court.
Trade suppliers were also left owed about £7,000 by Felix Travel and Tours, which traded as Felix Holidays.
The company offered packages with flights, accommodation, transfers and extras such as Disneyland tickets and ski passes.
However, many holidaymakers did not receive everything they had paid for in their package, according to the Insolvency Service.
Chief Investigator Cheryl Lambert said: “Felix Travels and Tours claimed to be a high-quality, trusted travel agency. This was sadly not the experience for holidaymakers who had packages cancelled at the last minute or were left missing accommodation or other services they had paid for in advance.
“To make matters worse, around a quarter of the company’s total customers are owed refunds approaching almost £600,000.”
She said the company’s ‘completely objectionable trading practices’ left the Insolvency Service with no option but to apply to have the company wound-up to protect customers in the future.
FTT was set up in April 2020 as a travel agency with a call-centre in Sri Lanka. It appears to have been launched by Lukas Edwards as its sole director. Mohamed Iqbal was appointed in November 2022 as a Director.
The company took initial deposits from customers, then arranged payment plans to spread the cost of the holiday.
Some holidaymakers who paid in full said they had travelled to their destination only to find that not all of the package was available to them. Others said their holidays had been cancelled at very short notice.
A number of customers who’d agreed a monthly payment plan with FTT were advised by its call centre staff not to make any further payments as their holiday package could not be fulfilled.
FTT also misled holidaymakers into believing they had ATOL protection when they did not. A separate travel agency which worked with FTT terminated its contract and reported the company to Action Fraud.
Insolvency Service investigations concluded that FTT had ceased trading by the end of February 2023 when it stopped paying suppliers and the expenses to keep its call centre running.
Mohamed Iqbal resigned on 15 April 2023 and Lukas Edwards resigned on 29 June 2023.
FTT failed to fully co-operate and deliver up-to-date accounts when requested since investigations into their conduct began in August 2023, according to the Insolvency Service.
The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator of the company and will be handling all enquiries concerning its affairs.