Court for director of Crowland travel company

The director of a travel company which specialised in organising school sports trips today (Monday) pleaded guilty to wrongly indicating that he was the holder of an ATOL certificate.

Marcus Buckley-Bennion, 63, admitted a single offence on dates between 1 January 2016 and 31 March 2017 when he appeared at Lincoln Crown Court.

Buckley-Bennion, of Normanton Road, Crowland, had previously pleaded not guilty to eight charges of fraud alleging he falsely represented that Dukes Sports Travel had ATOL and ABTA protection in place to cover any financial loss in the event of the cancellation of a school trip.

The charges related to eight different schools including Bourne Grammar School and Stamford High School.

Jeremy Janes, prosecuting, said a guilty plea by Buckley-Bennion to a single offence of wrongly indicating that he was the holder of an ATOL was acceptable to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The ATOL scheme (which stands for Air Travel Organiser’s Licence) is a financial protection scheme that protects customers who book a package trip that includes a flight.

The Crown accept there was a period of just three months at the end 2016 when the ATOL certification had expired.

Miranda Hill KC, defending Buckley-Bennion, told the court: “Dishonesty is not accepted on the part of Mr Bennion.”

Miss Hill indicated she would be asking the sentencing judge to consider a financial penalty on Mr Buckley-Bennion rather than disqualification as a company director.

Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight adjourned sentence for the preparation of a probation report and for more detail of Mr Buckley-Bennion’s financial means and the prosecution’s application for compensation on behalf of the schools.

The Judge granted Buckley-Bennion unconditional bail until he is sentenced in January and told him: “You have pleaded guilty in a way the Crown accept.”