First massive Brexit cock up - Low Cost Holidays have gone bust!

[catbasilio]

See here
I have a booking with them for £1400.
I am not looking forward to losing my holidays and claiming Section 75 with my credit card company and probably encountering losses anyway among 110,000+ other travellers.
What have you done, Leavers??

It can't have gone under in three weeks surely?

From the guardian

In 2013, the Civil Aviation Authority had warned holidaymakers to avoid booking with Lowcostholidays after the company relocated to Spain, which meant that its holidays were no longer protected under the Atol scheme run by the CAA. This ensures that customers can return home and get their money back if a company goes bust. Lowcostholidays had dismissed these warnings, stating that holidaymakers had protection under a Spanish scheme

Why not? All the build up. The low cost clue in the name will also mean low margin in comparison. The Euro has significantly shifted.

It was struggling anyway, Brexit 'hampered' it's recovery attempts so not really to blame.

Oh yes must be the fault of Brexit. Wart on the end of your nose? Blame Brexit. Had a car accident? Blame Brexit.

It appears that you booked a holiday with a company not protected by Atol according to the extract that Studious has quoted which wasn't a brilliant idea.

Why would anyone book a holiday that isn't ATOL protected? Obviously the fault of people who voted leave!!

Aw sorry.

brexit

Brexit is going to be a nice excuse for firms which would have gone to the wall anyway.

The title of this thread looks just like a newspaper headline.....melodramatic and misleading Bs.

"Customers' flight bookings will be valid in almost all cases, but hotels will need to be paid for, a company spokesperson said"

So they haven't paid the hotels and now the pound is weak against the euro and they can't make good on the prices agreed. Sounds like they were struggling and cutting it close and with the market changes it has all come crashing down sooner rather than later.

I really feel for anyone who has not booked with a credit card.

The uncertainty following the Brexit vote has been far more damaging than the vote itself (three weeks is not nearly long enough for that) so don't just blame Leavers, blame whiners and panickers of all colours and the politicians who resigned and created the uncertainty

I thought they were a Spanish or French run company with a very small element in the UK.
Never booked with them due to lack of UK protection.

Ah weird. The rest of the thread has loaded and I can now see everyone's comments I couldn't see a minute ago. Sorry for repeating what has more less already been said up thread.

They're based in Malaga. They're not a British company.

Surely it is Brexits fault because it's the pound crashing, which was due to brexit, that made them go bust.

You think we should stay in the EU so you get cheap holidays? Have a

Ffs. Here we go, blame Brexit.
Never mind the fact that it's usually sensible to get your facts right first. I suggest you join the Daily Wail as a journalist op.

A lot of companies will be finding their profits cut due to the pound being low against the euro. When a company is struggling and deals a lot in both currencies it will make life much harder to survive - in this case it's the final nail in the coffin early in.

I have friends who are seeing their business in Europe now bringing in far less profits, but more interest from Europe as their products become much more competitive through the pound being weak

So the volatile exchange rate caused them to go bust?

My practice does a lot of work with Europe. ..We factor in currency fluctuations. It works both ways - some you win, some you lose but it generally evens out. If it doesn't even out, you make sure there's enough of a buffer to deal with it. Frankly, taking money for a service based on one exchange rate and then not passing it directly onto the supplier at the time is a very risky business for this exact reason. This company obviously liked having the cash sat in their coffers instead.

Yes, it's not great but nothing to do with Brexit (and I'm a remain voter). And why would you book through an intermediary or agent who isn't Atol protected?!

first massive Brexit cockup

Is Brexit on their board OP?

Any decenct company hedges against currency fluctuations.

Hope anyone who has booked with them can get this sorted out though

Obviously a badly run company operating on very thin margins, none of which is brexit related.

However, the timing of its demise is undoubtedly related to the fall of the pound since June 23rd, and the drop in consumer confidence which has affected bookings.

I dare say that there was a substantial risk that this company would fail at some point, but it's clear that recent events precipitated the end.

There will be more like this in due course.

Haha. the start of everything going wrong due to Brexitism.

To be fair to the OP, in their official statement Lowcostholidays themselves blamed Brexit.

It's probably a load of cobblers and they were on the verge for months, Brexit may have just tipped them over the edge.