Twenty golfers from Norway who were due to holiday in Angus have been forced to cancel their plans following the closure of a golf and country estate.
They paid a deposit for 18 rooms for the weekend of April 29 to May 1 for five rounds of golf each at Letham Grange after booking through a Norwegian travel agency in November.
The travel company has said it will bear the £500 loss themselves after finding it “impossible” to contact anyone from the hotel since the Letham Grange Hotel, Golf and Country Estate closed with immediate effect because of a fresh legal contest over ownership.
Travel and Event, based in Bryne near Stavanger, only discovered there was going to be a problem with the booking after reading about the closure on The Courier’s website.
In a blow to the Angus economy, the golfers will now be going to an Aberdeenshire resort.
A Travel and Event spokesperson said, “We have decided not to pass on this loss to our clients (although we could) and will bear the loss ourselves.
“We believe it is strange that it is impossible to contact the hotel as there is no response to either telephone calls or emails.”
Elma McMenemy, who runs a marketing and public relations firm in Stonehaven, is a Norwegian-speaking tourism consultant and a Blue Badge professional tourist guide and has worked for Travel and Event, setting up and guiding day trips for their groups, mostly in and around Aberdeen.Legality questionedShe said, “Travel and Event asked me to look for alternatives for their group and already we have managed to find some availability at an Aberdeenshire golf resort.”
“They have already decided that, due to the amount paid, it’s not worth their while taking legal advice in Scotland.”
She added, “What the directors are doing and have done must be against the law perhaps not yet criminal but certainly breaking company law and I wonder what Companies House’s response might be to the action they have taken?
“I also wonder whether the directors, knowing perhaps that none of the deposits paid is a huge amount, feel it’s unlikely that those who lose their deposits will pay for legal advice about recovering their money.”
A notice posted on the front door of the hotel by Letham Grange directors Neil Rimmer and Paul Rodgers says they hope the legal issues will be resolved but the hotel and the golf courses will remain closed until the litigation is concluded.
It is understood 10 members of staff have lost their jobs. Some have been there for over 13 years.
Taiwanese businessman Dong Guang Liu has sought to take possession of the property, claiming it is his, and legal proceedings went through all levels of the Scottish courts system and to the House of Lords.
Letham Grange Management Company Ltd was appointed to run the hotel following the outcome of the original liquidators’ litigation with Mr Liu in February 2009 and invested £300,000 to modernise it after years of stagnation resulting from the long-running and complex legal tussle over ownership.
Refurbishments include upgrading bedrooms, opening a new brasserie and bar, and improving drainage on the Old and Glens golf courses. There is now further litigation and the directors have failed to secure investment to keep trading.