Five facing charges of bad trading

THERE will be a trial over allegations that five people connected to a holiday marketing firm in Exeter were involved in unfair trading practices.

Mark Herbert, Michael Girvin, John Girvin, Carol Small and Karen Henthorne pleaded not guilty to all 15 charges, at Exeter Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Philip Wassall said he was directing not guilty pleas for St Frances Marketing Ltd, as it had not sent a representative to the hearing. The firm will also face trial over the same 15 charges, whether or not a representative attends.

Allegations include selling holidays which were similar to timeshare schemes without telling customers; not giving them enough time to make a decision; claiming holidays were free when they involved a fee and wrongly informing them that they could not cancel a holiday product.

Judge Wassall said there would be a further plea and case management hearing on a date to be set. This could be on May 14 or the soonest date available after then.

A trial could potentially be held on November 1, although this has not been confirmed yet. The court heard that the trial could last up to five weeks.

Small, 45, is of Ide Lane, Exeter; Henthorne, 44, is also of Ide Lane. Herbert, 55, is of West Huntspill, Somerset; Michael Girvin, 49, of Salterton Road, Exmouth and John Girvin, 46, of Newlands Avenue, Exmouth. They were all jointly charged with 15 offences with dates in 2008 and last year, in a prosecution brought by Devon Trading Standards.

Three of these charges alleged that they engaged in unfair practices, by telling a customer that a holiday product was not a timeshare product.

The charges said that this was likely to have deceived the customer as the information was factually correct but the product was so similar to timeshare as to be indistinguishable.

They denied two charges of telling a customer that they had a free holiday, when in fact £49 had to be paid.

Four alleged offences were of fraud, involving dishonestly representing to customers that a holiday company was associated with organisations such the Association of British Travel Agents.

Another two charges involved allegedly falsely stating that a holiday product was only available for a limited time.

The charges said this would lead the customer to make an immediate decision and deprive them of time to make a considered choice.

A further charge of fraud involved dishonestly representing to a couple, in a letter, that they could not cancel their holiday product or contract.

The defendants also denied three further charges. The nature of these offences, or details of what they involved, were not explained when they were read out in court.

The court clerk said these were specimen charges, involving offences in 2008.

Details of the potential financial value of the 15 charges were not stated in the charges.

Judge Wassall released the defendants on bail until the next court hearing.