Customers owed more than £93,000 from a bust holiday firm face a struggle to get their money back after it was revealed the business has no remaining assets.
King’s Lynn-based East Anglian Holidays collapsed in December with McTear Williams & Wood appointed as liquidators. It has now revealed East Anglian Holidays owes 252 customers £93,514 – and have no assets against which to balance the books.
The statement of affairs published by McTear Williams & Wood also shows that three members of staff are owed £19,483. On top of this more than £50,000 is owed to trade creditors in expenses. A final figure of around £2,000 is owed in VAT and tax. In total the company is estimated to owe £195,663 – but its estimated assets to creditors is marked as “nil”.
The company had listed £700 worth of furniture and equipment and £400 worth of vehicles on its books – but have been realised as worthless by liquidators. Of its creditors HSBC is owed the most at £24,834. However, this figure is before floating charges which once added brings the sum to just shy of £29,300.
Two Marriott hotels – the Breadsall Priory Morley and the Preston Marriott are owed £9,525 and £10,812 apiece. Other creditors include £1,634 to four tax firms across Peterborough and Cambridgeshire.
East Anglian Holidays specialised in coach trips to destinations across the UK and Europe. The company which had offices off King Street had organised four trips over the festive period before it collapsed on December 17. At the time McTear Williams & Wood said the company had been unable to review its financial failure insurance policy designed to reimburse customers for the money that they prepay for their holidays.
Tony Harrison, associate at the firm said: “The director explored every avenue to keep the business afloat but without the insurance in place this did not prove possible.”