Specialist tour operator fails
Specialist tour operator Leisure Direction has been placed into administration, with 5,000 forward bookings.
The company, based in Tottenham Hale, London, was established in 1987.
It traded under a number of names, including French Impressions, French Holiday Service, EuroDrive, Alliance Travel, The Travel Alliance, and Faresavers.
The company also operated The Travel Shop at Maidstone Motorway Service Area, at Junction 8 of the M20.
ABTA said two tour operators have bought booking details of some Leisure Direction clients.
Retail claims arising from the failure will be handled by ABTA's claims handling partner CEGA.
Any claims for principal business, where they include air travel, will be handled by the Civil Aviation Authority.
Leisure Direction also used to trade under a series of 'Best of' names, but these were purchased by Best of Travel Ltd in April 2007.
Best of Travel managing director Eli Idrissi said although the two companies operate from the same building, his companies were trading as normal.
These include Best of France, Best of Greece, Best of Cyprus, Best of Portugal, Best of Turkey, Best of Spain, Best of Italy, and Best of Cruising.
"We used to work together 20 years ago, but we bought the specialist division from them as it was a separate busines," he said.
With permission from Travelmole
(Copying to our Tour Operators, France, Costa Brava and Caravan & Camping forums, where this company has previously been recommended or discussed ... David HT Mod).
that is a real shame David . I have used leisure direction twice for Disneyland paris and thought they gave an excellent service at a good price . 
Leisure Direction website sold to...Leisure Direction Travel
The website business of Leisure Direction has been sold to another company, with the very similar name of Leisure Direction Travel.
Administrators Menzies Corporate Restructuring confirmed today that the website has been sold to Leisure Direction Travel, and said this company has different owners and directors.
A Menzies spokeswoman said it has urged the new owners to make it clearer on the website that it is a totally different company.
But she said she could not disclose details of who was behind Leisure Direction Travel.
"Now that the business has been sold, Menzies is not in a position to comment further," she said.
Bookings are now being taken through the Leisure Direction website - http://www.leisuredirection.co.uk - which is the same in style and design.
Leisure Direction was placed into administration last week with 18,000 forward bookings.
At that time, Menzies said although the company was profitable, it had "some accounting issue" last year.
A spokesman for ABTA said: "Leisure Direction Travel Ltd is not the same company and it is not an ABTA member."
Leisure Direction was run by Alan Potts and employed 50 staff.
It was a registered ATOL holder and registered ABTA licence holder, trading under a number of names, including French Impressions, French Holiday Service, EuroDrive, Alliance Travel, The Travel Alliance, and Faresavers.
The company also operated The Travel Shop at Maidstone Motorway Service Area, at Junction 8 of the M20.
When the company was placed into administation last week, Leger Holidays took over short breaks and DisneyLand Paris forward bookings, which represents the bulk of the total.
Erna Low cacquired the operator's forward ski holiday business and its database, accepting responsibility for almost 500 holidays in Leisure Direction's 2008 ski programme.
With permission from Travelmole
The website business of Leisure Direction has been sold to another company, with the very similar name of Leisure Direction Travel.
Administrators Menzies Corporate Restructuring confirmed today that the website has been sold to Leisure Direction Travel, and said this company has different owners and directors.
A Menzies spokeswoman said it has urged the new owners to make it clearer on the website that it is a totally different company.
But she said she could not disclose details of who was behind Leisure Direction Travel.
"Now that the business has been sold, Menzies is not in a position to comment further," she said.
Bookings are now being taken through the Leisure Direction website - http://www.leisuredirection.co.uk - which is the same in style and design.
Leisure Direction was placed into administration last week with 18,000 forward bookings.
At that time, Menzies said although the company was profitable, it had "some accounting issue" last year.
A spokesman for ABTA said: "Leisure Direction Travel Ltd is not the same company and it is not an ABTA member."
Leisure Direction was run by Alan Potts and employed 50 staff.
It was a registered ATOL holder and registered ABTA licence holder, trading under a number of names, including French Impressions, French Holiday Service, EuroDrive, Alliance Travel, The Travel Alliance, and Faresavers.
The company also operated The Travel Shop at Maidstone Motorway Service Area, at Junction 8 of the M20.
When the company was placed into administation last week, Leger Holidays took over short breaks and DisneyLand Paris forward bookings, which represents the bulk of the total.
Erna Low cacquired the operator's forward ski holiday business and its database, accepting responsibility for almost 500 holidays in Leisure Direction's 2008 ski programme.
With permission from Travelmole
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