A NEW Dublin travel agency, which boasted it would be "the best not the biggest", ceased trading yesterday. Classic Choice left hundreds of Irish holiday makers stranded abroad and hundreds more facing the summer at home.
Classic Choice, in Elgin Road, Ballsbridge, ceased trading yesterday evening, and the Department of Transport was last night trying to ensure that its 600 customers would get home safely.
The company, which was set up just six months ago by Mr Freddie O'Neill, uses resorts in Majorca, Menorca and the Algarve.
Some 350 holidaymakers were due to return from Spain and Portugal this weekend and 250 more next weekend.
Last night a spokesman for the Department of Transport said: "Every effort will be made to ensure that the holidaymakers enjoy the rest of their holidays and get back home without disruption."
The company was licensed and bonded, and people who have booked holidays will get a refund "in due course" under a statutory scheme.
The Irish owned company aimed to acquire 5 per cent of the family holiday market.
The Department advised those who have made bookings with the company through a travel agent to contact the agent. People who have made direct bookings with Classic Choice Ltd should telephone the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications at 604-1614,604-1621 or 604-1622. Claims for a refund have to be made within 60 days.
Mr O'Neill, the managing director of Classic Choice, was a JWT executive who was recruited to run Falcon in Ireland before he set up Classic Choice. He could not be contacted last night.