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• Leading coach companies have warned that a newly. approved EC directive on package holiday liability will bump up holiday prices.
The directive holds operators responsible for the action of their suppliers. All holiday brochures advertising tours from 1 November must take into account the extra liability, and operators who have Association of British Travel Agents bonds, or are members of the Bus and Coach Council bonded coach holiday scheme, will be expected to take out extra insurance.
Insurance is not mandatory under the EC directive, but it could be by 1993. A spokesman for Wallace Arnold says the ABTA bond scheme has set some of the toughest standards in Europe and the EC directive was not as stringent as expected.
Shearings Holidays, part of the Mecca Leisure group, says that it will have to insure against "extensive eventualities", adding that this will have a significant impact on prices.
Shearings' managing director Paul Eddleston maintains: "Since operators will potentially be involved in lengthy litigation, this could have an effect on holiday prices. We obviously support greater consumer protection but there are implications that have to be passed on to the consumer," he says.
Shearings Holidays is evaluating three Mercedes-Benz 0303s, with 51-seat Plaxton 3500 bodywork, for use on its European tours. The Mercedes will be used alongside three Ensign Charismas to test the original model against the Yugoslavian-Mercedes clone. Five 0303s were previously delivered to Wallace Arnold.