'Holidays for life' firm goes under owing pounds 2m

ELLETSON Holiday Services, a company offering luxury holidays for life, has gone into liquidation owing 200 investors more than pounds 2m.

The company offered its customers membership of the Lifetime Holiday Club for an up-front fee of pounds 10,000.

Membership entitled customers to a holiday a year for life to different destinations around the world. Literature describing the scheme is signed by Bob Wilson, the BBC sports commentator.

Holidaymakers who wished to cancel their membership were promised return of the full pounds 10,000 plus interest, if the money was kept invested for more than two years.

Earlier this week, the Department of Trade and Industry ordered that Elletson Holiday Services be wound up and appointed the official receiver to act as a liquidator.

The company operated three subsidiaries based on the Isle of Man - Lifetime Holiday Club, Lifetime Holiday Limited and Lifetime Holiday Estates.

The DTI said that the directors of the company were attempting a restructuring of the Isle of Man companies to maximise the possibility of the club members getting their money back.

Elletson aimed its services at professional people and encouraged its existing members to recruit new members.

As Elletson is not an authorised investment, people losing money through it will not be eligible for compensation under the Investors Compensation Scheme.