Booking error sees school ski trips cancelled last minute

Pupils have been left disappointed after a travel company made a booking error.

Students from St Bernadette Catholic Secondary in Bristol and Chulmleigh Community College, Devon, had their holidays cancelled less than 24 hours before they were due to leave.

"My son was shocked, it's just absolutely gutting," parent Ali Birkett, from Bristol, said.

Halsbury Travel apologised and said it would pay a refund and compensation.

"For Year 11 it has been a long five years," Jasper, a student at Chulmleigh Community College, said.

"We were expecting a nice trip at the end of this, I'm angry and disappointed."

Mum Claire, from Knowle, Bristol, said it was a "sheer let down".

"Jack and Ellis had never skied before so my family gave them birthday and Christmas presents of skiing lessons and gloves," she said.

"I feel like the company could have given us the option to rearrange rather than pull it out from under their feet."

In a letter to parents, the CEO of Halsbury Travel Group, Robin Parry, explained how the mix up had occurred.

"The coach was booked provisionally for your trip; however, due to personnel changes, a mistake was made and the booking was incorrectly marked as confirmed," he said.

The company was unable to source replacement transport in time.

"We have been providing school trips for almost 40 years and we are absolutely devastated that we have had to disappoint a group in this way," Mr Parry added.

The company has offered to pay compensation to the schools amounting to half of the original cost of the trips, as well as refunding the money paid to them.

But Ms Birkett said parents had already been inconvenienced.

"I know some parents who booked their own Easter holidays as they thought the kids would be away, so they don't know what they're going to do, " she said.

"Booking the coaches was the travel group's one job. It sounds very odd."

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