logo
Brits face cancelled holidays as holiday company loses license

Brits face cancelled holidays as holiday company loses license

Independent16-06-2025
Hundreds of British travellers may have their summer holidays cancelled after a UK travel provider lost a key license on Friday.
As of 13 June, operations by Great Little Escapes are no longer protected by an Air Travel Organiser's Licence (Atol).
The company's Facebook page says the brand formerly offered 'holidays to the most iconic cities in the world'.
A notice from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed that the company based in Sandhurst, Berkshire, ceased trading as an Atol holder on 13 June 2025.
The Air Travel Organisers' Licence is a financial protection scheme run by the CAA for package holidays sold by tour operators in the UK.
Under the scheme, if a firm goes out of business, your booking will be refunded.
According to Companies House, the travel provider has been operational since September 2002.
Great Little Escapes also traded under the names Your Holidays, Great Little Escapes, Tunisia First and websites themaldives.co.uk, yourholidays.co.uk, thecaribbean.com and greatlittleescapes.co.uk, said the CAA.
It added: 'We are currently collating information from the company and will update this page as soon as possible.'
Customers of Great Little Escapes are advised not to submit a claim before the CAA has finished gathering information.
The closure comes just two months after operations by Balkan Holidays shut in the UK, with 'all forward holiday bookings' cancelled after almost 60 years of trading.
The travel provider started operations in 1966 with summer holidays to Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Malta and northern Cyprus, as well as winter ski trips, on offer to travellers.
In March, Jetline Holidays ceased trading as an Atol holder, raising doubts on whether trip bookings – specifically cruises –would still be valid.
Princess, Cunard and Holland America were among the affected cruise holidays, most of which were cancelled due to a 'breach of contract' with the former travel operator.
The Carnival brand cruise lines said in a statement: 'We recognise how disappointing this news will be for affected guests and express our sincere apologies for the disruption caused. This decision was not made lightly.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Sheffield Wednesday players refuse to play friendly as wages are late again
Sheffield Wednesday players refuse to play friendly as wages are late again

The Independent

time20 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Sheffield Wednesday players refuse to play friendly as wages are late again

Sheffield Wednesday 's players have refused to feature in a friendly this weekend after the club failed to pay their wages on time for the fourth time in five months. The Championship club were due to face Premier League side Burnley in a behind-closed-doors game but it is understood the Wednesday players are refusing to play. The Owls appointed Henrik Pedersen as their new head coach on Thursday following the departure of Danny Rohl and, just hours later, Saturday's friendly was cancelled as players and coaching staff decided to boycott the match after not receiving July's monthly salary on time. Rohl left Hillsborough on Tuesday during a chaotic summer which has seen Wednesday placed under a number of embargoes because of financial issues. Players were paid late in May and June, while this is the fourth time in the last five months that salaries have been delayed. The club are currently under an English Football League embargo for unpaid transfer fees and owner Dejphon Chansiri is trying to sell the cash-strapped Sky Bet Championship club. It is understood there is increasing concern within the EFL over the growing crisis at the club and that extends to whether Wednesday will be able to fulfil their opening Sky Bet Championship fixture at Leicester on August 10. Thai businessman Chansiri completed his takeover from previous owner Milan Mandaric January 2015 for a reported £30million and the club twice went close to promotion to the Premier League when losing out in the 2016 and 2017 play-offs. Since then Wednesday have lurched from one financial crisis to another. They were first placed under an EFL embargo in 2017 over profitability and sustainability rules and were docked 12 points – reduced to six on appeal – at the start of the 2020-21 season for further financial breaches. The Owls were placed under embargo for late salary payments to players and staff in 2024, while a player registration embargo is also in place for unpaid transfer fees. New boss Pedersen admitted the club were in 'rough waters' following his appointment, with registration restrictions and the departure of several key players leaving him with a threadbare squad. Djeidi Gassama and Anthony Musaba have been sold this summer to Rangers and Samsunspor respectively, while Josh Windass and Michael Smith had their contracts terminated by mutual consent to allow them to join Wrexham and Preston. The latest missed payments to players and staff heaps further pressure on Chansiri, who insists he is willing to sell the club for the right price. He recently revealed he had rejected one consortium's £40million bid, while talks with various other interested parties have stalled.

Morecambe 'will close on Monday'
Morecambe 'will close on Monday'

BBC News

time21 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Morecambe 'will close on Monday'

The consortium looking to take over ailing National League side Morecambe has said that the club will close on Warriors said in a statement on Wednesday that all first-team operations had stopped because the club's insurance had group and Morecambe's minority shareholders have now said the academy will shut on Friday and that, as it stands, the club will cease to operate on Monday 4 sports investment company, who have been in talks with the club's owner Jason Whittingham for more than a year, released a statement earlier this week to say they remain "ready, willing and able" to take Shrimps were suspended by the National League until 20 August on Monday over a failure to comply with the league's Thursday's statement Panjab Warriors called on Whittingham to sign the deal "immediately".Earlier this week Whittingham said owners Bond Group Investments were ready to sell and urged Panjab Warriors to make contact.

Husband handed just £325k of wife's £60MILLION family fortune in bitter divorce battle WINS bid to get more cash
Husband handed just £325k of wife's £60MILLION family fortune in bitter divorce battle WINS bid to get more cash

The Sun

time21 minutes ago

  • The Sun

Husband handed just £325k of wife's £60MILLION family fortune in bitter divorce battle WINS bid to get more cash

A MAN who was awarded just £325,000 of his wife's £60 million fortune has now won a bitter divorce battle. The divorcee blamed "gender prejudice" for his original 0.5% payout during a hearing at the Court of Appeal. 2 2 Simon Entwistle, 42, a financial trader, was awarded just £325,000 at the High Court after a "painful" divorce battle with multimillionaire heiress Jenny Helliwell, also 42. His claim of needing £36,000 a year for flights, and £26,000 for "a meal plan just for himself", was called "aspirational" by the judge. The judge added: "He said to me, 'I can't even cook an omelette,' well my answer to that is 'learn', it is not difficult." "You do not have to be a master chef to learn how to eat reasonably well." Now, a judge has found Jenny guilty of "fraudulent" behaviour by failing to declare £48m of her £66m personal fortune. The pair, who were together from 2016 until 2022, enjoyed an "opulent standard of living throughout their relationship." Simon reportedly "enjoyed the trappings of being married into a family of exceptional wealth". This included living in a £4.5m villa in Dubai, and a Parisian wedding ceremony that cost £500,000 in August 2019. The villa had been a gift from Jenny's father - Dubai-based British businessman Neil Helliwell. Simon's own assets were worth around £800,000, including a flat in Salford. Teen Mom star Ryan Edwards begs judge not to force him to expose top-secret MTV contract and NDA in nasty divorce When the couple split in August 2022, Jenny hired lawyers to order Simon to leave their home with just 48 hours' notice. It sparked a legal battle that would see Simon asking for £2.5m of his wife's fortune, estimated to be worth £60m. Jenny had offered him £500,000, and then £800,000 to avoid a court battle, but he refused in the hopes of an £2.5m award. However, the original judge awarded just a £400,000 payout following a pre-nuptial agreement that stated the pair would keep their own assets. This came to £325,000 after he was made to pay his wife's legal fees. During an appeal, Simon claimed he was a victim of "gender prejudice", and that the agreement had been invalidated by Jenny failing to disclose around £48m in assets when he signed the document. His lawyer said: "Had the positions been reversed, it is very unlikely that he would have... so ungenerously assessed the needs of a wife after a six-year relationship." A judge has ruled that this amounted to "fraudulent" behaviour, invalidating the agreement. While Jenny did disclose around £18m in assets, she failed to disclose an additional £47m. It included around £8m of beachfront land in Dubai, and a £1.6m property in Wimbledon. This meant that Simon did not sign the agreement with full knowledge of his partner's wealth. She did not make any findings on the gender prejudice argument. The case will now be returned to the High Court, to be judged as if the agreement didn't exist. Lady Justice King said: "Since the husband in the instant case was deliberately deprived of information which it had been agreed that he should have, in my judgment, the agreement cannot stand."

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store