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‘Incompetent and wasteful’ – Speakman attacks ABTA
ABTA was accused of being incompetent, wasting millions of pounds of travel agents’ money and abandoning retailers, in an outspoken speech by Travel Counsellors founder David Speakman.
The homeworking chief quoted a previous trade article when ABTA president Justin Fleming controversially said that agents were no longer its focus.
“This is the age of the decent agent, so ABTA should be more relevant than ever before, not less,” he said.
Speakman claimed agents had paid £21 million in bonding in seven years, mainly to cover the costs of frauds against the association, and that ABTA’s headquarters cost £4.3 million a year to run.
“From 1997 to 2004, ABTA paid out £18 million in claims, of which £11 million was as a result of fraud or activities where fraud might be involved,” he said.
“On the basis of that financial protection was taken away. The directors have been incompetent and should be held accountable.”
Using slides to illustrate his point, Speakman added that ABTA had also lost £1.25 million to its former legal chief Riccardo Nardi, who was jailed for fraud, and £0.5 million and £2.7 million respectively on the Travelscene and Cruise Control collapses.
“Everyone in this room knew that Cruise Control was going bust. Has anyone resigned?” he asked.
Referring to the cost of running the Newman Street headquarters, Speakman claimed ABTA was overstaffed.
“ABTA is not reducing its number of staff even though its financial protection guarantee has been removed. It’s a gravy train.”
Fleming later defended ABTA, saying the average cost to an agent member was just £750 a year and that the Cruise Control collapse had only cost the association £1 million.
Speakman’s comments were the forerunner to a lively debate with ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer, Fleming, Richard Jackson of the Civil Aviation Authority and lowcost group founder Paul Evans (see separate story).
By Jeremy Skidmore (www.jeremyskidmore.com)
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