Watchdog says holiday firms must offer refunds promptly

PACKAGE holiday firms have been told by the competition watchdog to offer refunds to customers whose trips could not go ahead due to coronavirus.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has received more than 17,500 complaints from consumers about the way businesses in the sector are responding to the pandemic.

It has written to more than 100 of the most commonly criticised companies, stating that full cash refunds should be provided “promptly and without undue delay”.

Under consumer law, customers whose package holidays were cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions should have their money returned within 14 days.

The letter states: “The CMA recognises that the pandemic has created extraordinary pressures on package holiday businesses.

“Although we were sympathetic to the challenges faced in the early days of the pandemic, it is nonetheless important that businesses comply with consumer law.

“Where businesses have breached consumer law, the CMA expects them to take immediate action to bring themselves into compliance and address any consumer harm arising from the breaches.”

Tui, the UK’s largest tour operator, currently advises customers that refund requests can take up to four weeks to be processed.

Meanwhile, Serbia is being removed from a list of where people returning to or visiting England can avoid quarantine. The UK Government announced that the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England have “updated their coronavirus assessments of Serbia based on the latest data”.

Serbia was included on a list of 76 countries and territories from which people arriving into England will no longer need to self-isolate for 14 days from yesterday.

The list included popular destinations such as Spain, Germany, France and Italy, but Portugal was one of the notable omissions.

The Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive decided to follow the same approach, but the Scottish Government produced a list of just 39 countries not including Spain or Serbia.

There have been two nights of violent clashes in Serbian capital Belgrade by thousands of people protesting against coronavirus lockdown measures.

Serbian authorities have reported 352 coronavirus deaths and 17,342 cases, but it has been claimed the data does not represent the full impact of the virus.

While Labour welcomed the UK Government’s relaxation of the quarantine for some countries, it criticised ministers for failing to secure agreements with more destinations to accept UK visitors without restrictions.”