Independent coach tour operator Stourbridge-based Group Travel has collapsed after long-standing financial difficulties. The firm is not responding to enquiries.
It closed without notice and in a letter to customers says it is “taking advice from a licence insolvency practitioner.”
It was not bonded and its failure has left holiday and private hire customers, many of whom had paid up front in full, out of pocket.
It owes £12,592 in three unpaid County Court Judgements, and had fended off a number of strike-off actions in the last 13 months.
It also owes “considerable” sums to a number of hotels, which have engaged a legal firm in an attempt to recover their debts.
Run by the Bennett family the firm, which had a sub-office in Shrewsbury, where its two coaches were based rather than its operating centre, has suffered long-standing losses.
Despite its financial position, the firm had a good reputation, although its fleet size was more than halved in recent years.
Established in 1982, its first holiday brochure came in 1987, and in 1997 it bought its first new coaches.
It prided itself on not using feeder vehicles, with direct pick-ups in the Shrewsbury and Stourbridge areas.
Its latest accounts are overdue, while its previous accounts (year to 31 December 2015) show little details. In 2013 and 2014, it showed losses of around £22,000 in each year on a flat turnover of over £910,000.
