Dream holiday to Paris has been dashed

5:21pm Wednesday 21st May 2008

HOPES of a dream holiday to Paris this bank holiday weekend have been dashed for a group of worshippers from Bolton.

Around 120 members of the Krishna Temple in Beverley Road, Heaton, collectively paid £18,000 in January for a two night stay in the French capital.

But their London-based tour operator told them ferry timetable changes meant the party would arrive at 5am with no hotel available until mid-afternoon and cancelled the trip.

Temple president, Navin Patel, said: "Everyone is so disappointed.

"When I told people they went mad because many had bought insurance and bought new clothes and shoes.

"We were supposed to go to Disneyland and the Eiffel Tower - everyone was looking forward to it - and now its too late to go anywhere else."

The group were due to leave Bolton by coach tomorrow (Friday) night to catch an early morning ferry from Dover to Calais and arrive at their hotel mid-afternoon.

But Mr Patel said the tour company rang to say there had been a change in the ferry timetables and they must be ready outside the temple at 3pm on Friday to catch a 10pm ferry that night.

"They said we'd arrive at 5am but didn't say that would be a problem so I trusted them it wouldn't be," he said.

A few days later Mr Patel got another call from the tour company, this time to say they were cancelling his booking because the hotel would not let them in at that time in the morning.

"They just said sorry' and promised to refund the money but that's not good enough," he said.

Mr Patel said he booked with Taj Tours in Wembley, north London, because they specialise in holidays that provide meals for people with dietary requirements due to their religion.

Taj Tours were unavailable for comment.

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