1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152 
'Bully boy' bonding
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
TRAVEL agents' demands that coach operators join their bonding scheme have been dismissed angrily as "bully boy" tactics by Bus and Coach Council director-general Denis Quin.
Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) tour operators' chairman Jack Smith was quoted in Travel Trade Gazette as saying that Abta would insist that Bus and Coach Council members became members of the Abta bonding scheme.
Fifty BCC member companies are in its bonding scheme, which requires an absolute minimum bond of 10 per cent and sometimes insists on more. No BCC company in the scheme has gone out of business, so far.
BCC points out that the Abta scheme has a 7.5 per cent minimum bond and this offers a less superior bonding.
Mr Quin hit back at the Abta statement, saying it represented "no more than self-interest under the guise of consumer protection'.