 |
| The family-run coach company was founded in 2006 |
SCORES of Cleethorpes-area holidaymakers, many of them elderly, fear their holiday plans may be in tatters after a long-established holiday company shut up shop.
Clarity is being sought on the future of coach company Hough's of Lincolnshire, which has its depot on the Wilton Road estate and offices on Middlethorpe Road.
This week the office is reported to have stayed closed with telephone calls remaining unanswered.
Meanwhile, another firm, Lincoln-based PC Coaches, has put out a statement to dispel any speculation that it might have taken over the Cleethorpes firm.
It says: "PC Coaches are not taking over Hough’s of Lincolnshire as a business.
"We have no connection - financial or otherwise - to the business, including any of the holidays or day trips that Hough’s have on the books, and we have no access to any of the finances relating to these.
"What we are doing, is taking over the bookings office in Cleethorpes from December 1, and this will be rebranded and incorporated under the PC Coach Holidays umbrella to sell our own range of holidays and day trips as well as offer private hire quotations, as we do at our Louth and Lincoln offices.
"Therefore, unfortunately, we are unable to answer specific questions surrounding Hough’s refund requests or any other queries regarding existing Hough’s customer bookings.
"In the absence of any significant updates from the owners of Hough’s, we can also confirm that we have been corresponding with the management team at the Rob Roy Hotel in Aberfoyle.
"We have written confirmation that, unfortunately, the Rob Roy has been forced to cancel all December bookings for Hough’s due to non-payment of accommodation invoices.
The statement continues: "This is not news we wanted to deliver, but we want customers at least to know where they stand.
"What we have decided to do, as a gesture of goodwill and acknowledgement of some of the disappointment and frustration caused by recent events, is to operate some of the remaining Hough’s day trips in December, with no financial gain to ourselves, running them at a loss to our company.
"Due to the sheer costs involved however, we simply cannot extend this to the remaining 2025 holiday programme.
"We will update everyone booked on to December day trips of their individual booking status when we gain access to the office and bookings information next week."
The statement concludes: "We fully appreciate this is a frustrating, upsetting and difficult time, but would please urge customers not to vent these frustrations on the loyal and dedicated staff in the booking office.
"They have performed their roles as instructed by management, working under the impression that everything was OK and it was 'business as usual.
"All they have done is to have carried out their duties in good faith, so please bear this mind when dealing with them."
No comments:
Post a Comment