Varsity Express
Actually, I thought I might write to him and ask for a copy of his business plan - although I don't live in Tenerife or have extensive property or entertainment interests I do rather like the idea of investing in an airline.
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Mr Halstead
Mr Halstead,
We here at PPRuNe would like you to give answers to some worrying problems that your operation, Varsity Express, presents to us. We are so concerned in fact that we wish you to offer you the opportunity to give your personal response to the accusations that face you on PPRuNe. We have always felt a great need to protect those who use PPRuNe. Indeed, we feel we have a duty of care to ensure that our readers be they pilots, cabin crew or ops or aviation in general and therefore a fraternity that is us, to make certain they are not dis-advantaged by anyone.
What worries us is that you had an operation called Alpha1 and we at first allowed it to be mentioned on these boards, then we discovered that it wasn't all it seemed and we decided to discontinue its name being mentioned. We do that if their is doubt as to its worth in terms of credibility and integrity. As it turned out we were right.
As far as your new venture is concerned we were equally concerned about its aims, particularly with one aircraft, which never does make a success in our experience, yet you went ahead.
However, that was not for us to question. Others were doing that as well as we would have done. We would therefore hope that you would in the interests of clarity kindly answer some questions.
1. Is it correct to say that you ceased operations because you failed to pay Links Air for their ACMI costs in the first week and they then, not unexpectedly removed their aircraft?
2. Did you accept large sums of money from passengers who booked flights with your organisation. Have you therefore repaid them and if not why not. Please clarify. And where is the Escrow account you have and why has that not been activated - passengers DO want their money back. And why does your defunct website say "the Board" when you are the board - trying to impress again?
3. There are pilots on this thread who assert that they met with you and a Mr Lawrence in a hired room in the Gherkin in London, which may be regarded to impress, for the purpose of an interview for the position of First Officer and that you did, in the first instance, require them to pay you up front £15,000 for a type rating on the J31, some finding it most difficult sum to find, and you have not yet paid them back and have, it is reported in the Oxford News that you will do so in 3 months. Would you care to answer that? Where is that money now? Why 3 months? And as it is also alleged that you failed to pay Links Air and all your other costs, which would have only have been a few landing fees and handling fees - not much in the scheme of things so can you explain where the money has gone. That total sum according to the press from your own mouth indicates that it is over £50,000 in type ratings alone - where is that and the pax money now? We know you have said that some has gone in working capital but can you justify that much in writing? You may have to.
4. Would you care to answer why you have changed each story as and when you were asked by different newspapers and how you can defend these differences as nothing more than lies.
5. We now know that 'Will Gilligan' is a fiction and in your imagination so can you tell us why you have fraudulently used that name as a 'Commercial Director' of VE when in fact he is you pure and simple, you being the only director as per searches in Companies House clearly show. Is that because you knew that if your past effort with Alpha1 came out no-one would do business with you? Have you in fact paid your fees at OXF and EDI?
6. Can you also answer how you claimed to have used, or were going to use the only sim available for a J31, which is in Stockholm. They have refuted that and said that "we have never been asked by any company called Varsity Express, or have we been asked by Links Air on behalf of Varsity Express." These are pretty damning assertions given that you received such large sums for sim training.
We would be most pleased to hear your answers to these questions, and some of your reasons for planning such an abortive operation that brings aviation into disrepute.
Finally, we believe that there is enough information in this thread for us to instigate some action against you to protect some of those who have used money borrowed from, a grandmother and his father and his own resources only to have his dream taken from him. It will be all well and good if you repay him and the others but if you do not I personally will do I can to alert the authorities to some wrongdoing. Of course, that may too late and they may already be asking you questions.
Please Mr Halstead, do answer. But please do not insult us. We are very experienced in the field of airline operations and will immediately spot any attempt to fool us.
This is a genuine proposal to give you a chance to challenge the accusations made against you. If you do not answer you will never be allowed near aviation again. In other words do not underestimate the power of PPRuNe.
Oh! I almost forgot. This from your statement.
So some of the stories are true then, and 'what individuals.' Repeating yourself is a sign of weakness.
PPP
We here at PPRuNe would like you to give answers to some worrying problems that your operation, Varsity Express, presents to us. We are so concerned in fact that we wish you to offer you the opportunity to give your personal response to the accusations that face you on PPRuNe. We have always felt a great need to protect those who use PPRuNe. Indeed, we feel we have a duty of care to ensure that our readers be they pilots, cabin crew or ops or aviation in general and therefore a fraternity that is us, to make certain they are not dis-advantaged by anyone.
What worries us is that you had an operation called Alpha1 and we at first allowed it to be mentioned on these boards, then we discovered that it wasn't all it seemed and we decided to discontinue its name being mentioned. We do that if their is doubt as to its worth in terms of credibility and integrity. As it turned out we were right.
As far as your new venture is concerned we were equally concerned about its aims, particularly with one aircraft, which never does make a success in our experience, yet you went ahead.
However, that was not for us to question. Others were doing that as well as we would have done. We would therefore hope that you would in the interests of clarity kindly answer some questions.
1. Is it correct to say that you ceased operations because you failed to pay Links Air for their ACMI costs in the first week and they then, not unexpectedly removed their aircraft?
2. Did you accept large sums of money from passengers who booked flights with your organisation. Have you therefore repaid them and if not why not. Please clarify. And where is the Escrow account you have and why has that not been activated - passengers DO want their money back. And why does your defunct website say "the Board" when you are the board - trying to impress again?
3. There are pilots on this thread who assert that they met with you and a Mr Lawrence in a hired room in the Gherkin in London, which may be regarded to impress, for the purpose of an interview for the position of First Officer and that you did, in the first instance, require them to pay you up front £15,000 for a type rating on the J31, some finding it most difficult sum to find, and you have not yet paid them back and have, it is reported in the Oxford News that you will do so in 3 months. Would you care to answer that? Where is that money now? Why 3 months? And as it is also alleged that you failed to pay Links Air and all your other costs, which would have only have been a few landing fees and handling fees - not much in the scheme of things so can you explain where the money has gone. That total sum according to the press from your own mouth indicates that it is over £50,000 in type ratings alone - where is that and the pax money now? We know you have said that some has gone in working capital but can you justify that much in writing? You may have to.
4. Would you care to answer why you have changed each story as and when you were asked by different newspapers and how you can defend these differences as nothing more than lies.
5. We now know that 'Will Gilligan' is a fiction and in your imagination so can you tell us why you have fraudulently used that name as a 'Commercial Director' of VE when in fact he is you pure and simple, you being the only director as per searches in Companies House clearly show. Is that because you knew that if your past effort with Alpha1 came out no-one would do business with you? Have you in fact paid your fees at OXF and EDI?
6. Can you also answer how you claimed to have used, or were going to use the only sim available for a J31, which is in Stockholm. They have refuted that and said that "we have never been asked by any company called Varsity Express, or have we been asked by Links Air on behalf of Varsity Express." These are pretty damning assertions given that you received such large sums for sim training.
We would be most pleased to hear your answers to these questions, and some of your reasons for planning such an abortive operation that brings aviation into disrepute.
Finally, we believe that there is enough information in this thread for us to instigate some action against you to protect some of those who have used money borrowed from, a grandmother and his father and his own resources only to have his dream taken from him. It will be all well and good if you repay him and the others but if you do not I personally will do I can to alert the authorities to some wrongdoing. Of course, that may too late and they may already be asking you questions.
Please Mr Halstead, do answer. But please do not insult us. We are very experienced in the field of airline operations and will immediately spot any attempt to fool us.
This is a genuine proposal to give you a chance to challenge the accusations made against you. If you do not answer you will never be allowed near aviation again. In other words do not underestimate the power of PPRuNe.
Oh! I almost forgot. This from your statement.
There are currently many inaccurate and factually untrue media reports surrounded the Varsity Express operation and the individuals behind it. Many of these stories are completely false and untrue and the company will not be drawn into discussion over such claims.
PPP
Excellent summation by Pprune Pop - can I suggest, if you haven't already done so, that you email the questions direct to [email protected]?
Just to add a bit of background information - I run a business which takes credit card payments and the money appears in our bank account the day after the transaction; I'm sure most payment providers run in a similar way. I stand to be corrected, but I've never come across a situation where the intermediate company would hold onto the money.
Just to add a bit of background information - I run a business which takes credit card payments and the money appears in our bank account the day after the transaction; I'm sure most payment providers run in a similar way. I stand to be corrected, but I've never come across a situation where the intermediate company would hold onto the money.
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For start-ups, especially in fields where there's a high rate of chargeback, the processing company can hold on to the money for up to 45 days. They don't want to be in a position where the company goes bust and they are left refunding all the customers. My personal trainer has started a studio and, because it's lumped into generic `leisure', he's having to wait thirty days for payments to come through. So it's not totally implausible.
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EastMids
Fair enough I withdraw it and will delete the reference to it.
BTW, I have copied the thread, in particular the post, to that email address but...............I won't hold my breath either.
Fair enough I withdraw it and will delete the reference to it.
BTW, I have copied the thread, in particular the post, to that email address but...............I won't hold my breath either.
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Why is this thread being so heavily moderated, posts are being deleted all over the place?
Edit: A friendly one. You are new to PPRuNe and the best advice is go with the flow, follow the rules, learn and then enjoy.
PPP
Edit: A friendly one. You are new to PPRuNe and the best advice is go with the flow, follow the rules, learn and then enjoy.
PPP
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If anyone would like to know more about this individual, thanks to Wikipedia. I believe the article may have been written by Mr Halstead himself. Bit of a Walter Mitty character. I hope he hasn't purchased another Breitling watch with company funds as he was alleged to have done at Alpha1.
Martin Halstead - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I feel very sorry for anyone who has lost £ through this man. He should be blacklisted!
Martin Halstead - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I feel very sorry for anyone who has lost £ through this man. He should be blacklisted!
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Actually Dappy, I couldn't have put it better than BOAC. In fact the two most previous post mention allegations, which we do not want to hear about on PPRuNe and naming a pilot's name which we also frown upon.
Just stick to the topic the way people have and we will not delete, otherwise you are wasting your time and ours.
Having just taken a step back I have read the Wikipedia piece on Halstead and I am gobsmackingly breathless!
Just stick to the topic the way people have and we will not delete, otherwise you are wasting your time and ours.
Having just taken a step back I have read the Wikipedia piece on Halstead and I am gobsmackingly breathless!
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Just took a peek at the revision history and compared various versions.... wikipedia seems to want to avoid the libel possibility in living persons biographies. The discussion is interesting too - seems you reap what you sow - his PR company is alleged to have created the original wikipedia entry!
I have just read the Airliner World article - the boy is a true Walter Mitty. He could become a politician at this rate of self spinning.
I have just read the Airliner World article - the boy is a true Walter Mitty. He could become a politician at this rate of self spinning.