Last month I went on a group visit to Luxembourg, which was arranged through Staffordshire-based Bowens Travel Group. Unfortunately, the first day of our holiday was a disaster.

Firstly, our driver arrived half an hour late and we subsequently, missed our booking on the Channel Tunnel train.We managed to get a later train; however when we arrived in Calais the driver had to re-arrange the journey, which meant that we spent 55 minutes at the Cite Europe shopping centre, rather than the expected one-hour lunch stop at St Omer.

Later on, the coach developed a leak in the radiator hose and we were unable to go anywhere until it was repaired. We were given no information or reassurance by our driver and it was not until 11pm that we were transferred onto a new vehicle.

We eventually arrived at our hotel in Luxembourg at 1am where we were offered no meal and ended up having to pay for tea and coffee. The day was awful, but what made it worse is that we seemed to be abandoned in Europe with no support or help from the tour operator, or anyone else.

Brenda Smith
Group Member
The Probus Club of Crawley
Hawth Wood, West Sussex

GTO asked Bowens Travel Group to respond:

May I offer my sincerest apologies for the difficulties your group experienced, which I can assure you is not our normal standard of operation.

In reference to the driver turning up late, the Operations Department calculated the journey time incorrectly. Concerning vehicle breakdown, I can assure you I was personally involved in sourcing a replacement and the driver was constantly updated. The delay resulted from the replacement coach, travelling from Luxembourg, being held up at the border into Belgium.

Mrs Smith and her group have been compensated accordingly and procedures have been put in place to ensure the same problems do not arise in the future.

Rob Lyng
Managing Director
L F Bowen Limited, Staffordshire