Travel Solutions' collapse could leave charity out of pocket

Friday 23 March 2018

Winners of a local charity competition in 2017 could be facing problems after Travel Solutions' collapse this month, as their prizes were linked to the company.

Last March, the Guernsey Cheshire Home started its "dream holiday" fundraiser - a lottery with a monthly winner. Travel Solutions was the partner in offering this prize, and several of the winners from last year may still have not claimed their prizes.

But with Travel Solutions' sudden closure last week, those holidays could now be impossible to claim in the future. 

One winner from the end of last year approached Express to raise concerns about the future of their winnings after reading our article - they have since spoken to the Cheshire home.

Susan Bowditch from the charity said when the news that Travel Solutions was being purchased by CT Travel Group broke in January, they were not concerned as it had been promised that all prior arrangements would be honoured. However she said they had not been told about the failure of that deal nor what the future of their bookings would be.

"To be honest we are still very much in the dark ourselves at the moment," she said.

"We saw the news but that is only way we have heard about this - we had originally been told that the holidays were being honoured as the Guernsey office was remaining open, but now I am in the process of trying to ascertain the position on behalf of the Cheshire Home. We have not had any contact from anyone as far as I am aware."

Above: the former Guernsey Travel Solutions store on the Albany. The staff were evicted last Wednesday when the new owners stopped paying rent.

Luckily for more recent winners of the charity's lottery, the Cheshire Home swapped their travel sponsor to Wayfarers Travel in January 2018, and all arrangements are now made through them. It is only outstanding arrangements from the previous year that could be affected.

"It is certainly of concern that this has happened, but we are going to try and ensure everything still works out," Mrs Bowditch added.