I think it's now patently obvious that rich private equity stakeholders won't bail out the companies they own if they don't see a viable future for them.
This will send a chill down the spine of other tour operators (Audley is one that jumps to mind) that are owned by private equity LLPs.

When Directors sell out to Hedge funds, then you can expect what as occurred, whatever happened .

How did the management buyout go in 2014, acquired the whole company for less than 8% of its value and then the management team/board sold it for a massive profit to Lone Star Funds.

Only people to blame are easy to pick out.

Suggest a look at COMPANY HOUSE RECORDS and then look at the assets Lone Star have that actaully surpass $55 billion.
A rescue was easy, but watch Lone Star friends asset strip the good parts.

Not sure what they will do with all those coaches, to many second hand coaches in the market at present at 30% of there true value

Time for all to read and present balance sheets without intangible assets.

This comes as a terrible shock from such a well respected and managed company -speechless.

Kane you were doing well. But now reality has hit the fan you are unfortunately displaying the limitations of a one man band. Pipe down and let staff, suppliers and pax grieve a bit.

Enchanté. I was answering a question from a customer who has every right to be worried about recovering their refund. This is a comments section for a trade mag not a funeral service with you as the self-appointed Vicar.

I love modern life and the pathetic virtue-signalling competition. Personally, I doubt the Shearings crew want poetic outpourings of tea & sympathy. Help towards a new job would probably be of more use.

The customer was praising the company with sympathy for the team. She didn’t ask where her refund was

Pointing out that SLG had too much debt (which was arguably the case even pre-takeover) is only likely to make the unfortunate staff and customers feel like dupes, and certainly won’t help them secure future employment or refunds.

a disaster for all - clients and staff - and now time for ABTA to step up and back all their rhetoric with action

ABTA will only refund a small percentage.

They will use their usual excuse 'You need to claim from your credit card company'

ABTA should really mean:

Association of British Tax Avoiders.

If they know how to - very doubtful ?

Really sorry for everyone involved- have travelled with them since 1987 and will really miss the staff in agencies the drivers and all the hotels-many happy memories and our best wishes to all the staff involved

Very Sad day. My thoughts are with all the team.

Sad day for Shearings and their employees, customers and suppliers. Also a very difficult employment market at present. Can only hope that improves more quickly than many expect.

Companies with high debt levels following acquisition by PE Houses will be at a higher risk of failure than those without debt.

Very sad day for all involved.
What happens now to all those customers that accepted Refund Credit Notes? Will they actually get their money back?

No.

Refund Credit Notes are like 'gift cards'

When the company goes bust, you queue up with the other people trying to get your money back and you will be lucky to get 1/2p in the £

Just a nano second to reflect please. Now is not the time to point out the obvious.

It may be obvious the some but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be pointed out to others.

To what effect? Also it won’t always be the case. Looks like seeking advantage from tragedy to me.

There are many tragedies here. I agree those hardest hit today are the Shearings team and it is bleak time to be looking for new employment for sure. I can only hope the market picks up more quickly than many expect / or there are opportunities in other sectors that appeal.

It also does not surprise me at all customers want to know immediately if their RCN is really ATOL protected as ABTA told them at the time they accepted it. As I have said for weeks only the CAA can say. Everyone else, including trade club ABTA, are only offering an opinion.