Lothian Helicopters

[mustpost]

For info -

Refunds up in the air as helicopter firm goes bust - Edinburgh Evening News (http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/Refunds-up-in-the-air.6766934.jp)

Refunds up in the air as helicopter firm goes bust




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Published Date:
12 May 2011
By DAVID McCANN ([email protected])
A COMPANY providing helicopter tours of Edinburgh's skyline has called in the receivers leaving some customers out of pocket.

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/getEdFrontImage.aspx?ImageID=477314

• Iain Grindlay launched Lothian Helicopters as a sole trader in 1990

Lothian Helicopters yesterday announced that they had gone into administration after 20 years' navigating the skies above the Capital.

The company's website has been replaced with the message: "Please note Lothian Helicopters has gone into administration with effect from 11 May 2011."

An answer phone message on its reservation line now says: "Please contact your credit card provider for a refund for your flight voucher. Lothian Helicopters is no longer trading."

But one customer who booked a helicopter tour in April says she will have lost out on around £500 because her debit card payment would not be insured in the same way credit card transactions are.

Michele Millar, 47, said she was "shocked" to discover the firm was insolvent, having booked her trip only weeks before.

And she is fuming to have forked out £472 for a aerial tour that her family will never get to enjoy.

"I bought flights for my husband's 60th birthday and for my son and had it all booked in April," she said.

"But when I got the boarding passes they had the wrong dates on them so I'd been trying to contact Lothian Helicopters to get them changed.

"But instead of speaking to anyone there has been an automated answering machine message saying to contact my bank or credit card company because they have gone into administration. I have been speaking with them right up until the last week so this has come right out of the blue.

"I have a business myself and feel I have really been made a fool of here.

"I wouldn't dream of deceiving people in this manner.

"The worst thing is I booked this on my debit card so will not get a refund.

"I'm quite angry about all this because they would have known the trouble they were in when I booked."

Captain Iain Grindlay set up Lothian Helicopters as a sole trader in 1990, undertaking the dual role of lead pilot and company chief executive.

Customers were flown out on tours from helipads at Ingliston and Whitehill, in Dalkeith.

A posting on aviation website AVBuyer.com indicates Lothian Helicopters has been trying to sell a £430,000 Bell Helicopter 206-L1 since April 12.

No one from Lothian Helicopters was available for comment at the time of going to press.

[OvertHawk]

That's a shame :(

It's been a really tough time for small companies the last few years. It's sad that Lothian managed to get back on their feet after the loss of an airframe only to fall at this point.

I hope that everyone involved at Lothian manages to come out the other side of this and move on.

OH

[gmkilbride]

Lothian Helicopters should refund the customers that have already paid but never received the service. Iain Grindlay should be ashamed of himself for committing daylight robbery and seemingly getting away with it.

[finals06]

I like to think that Iain had no intention of deceiving anyone. It is very unfortunate for the customers who had booked tours in good faith but I don't suppose it was for the want of a few hundred quid that this happened. It's not good but sometimes affairs are taken out of your hands and I suspect that this was the case in this instance.

[6th Gear]

First post ever I know but these sort of comments annoy me.

I don't know anything about this chap and his company but since I own a company now and others in the past, I know how tough it is when your business is on the brink and you are desparately trying until the last minute, to turn things around.

How do we know he wasnt trying to refinance everything with his bank for example before they pulled the plug and left his company in the sh*t at the eleventh hour? His chopper could have been for sale due to an undertaking he made with his bank.
One thing for sure, if you are in the process of trying to do this and you decide to stop taking money because you just may go down you are knackered anyway.
Of course his customers have lost a few hundred quid but he's lost his livelihood. Best of luck to him

[OvertHawk]

6th - I totally agree.

I've known several really nice, genuine guys (including IG) who have worked their @r$es off the helm of flying businesses that have folded leaving the inevitable disappointed customers. (many of whom will have paid by credit card and will be protected, although admittedly not all).

As you say - they have to keep trading and may not always know when or if the bank will pull the plug. They are left with little or nothing to show for the years they have put into their business and their employees are out on their ears with statutory redundancy.

Good luck to all
OH

[longbox]

IG has always been a straight and hard working chap, anyone who has owned helicopters and had all of the related expences most of which are un planned can be very tough on cash flow, enter recession and un helpful banks and finance houses and it gets very very hard.

[Tarman]

Your Bank manager is your best friend . . . . . . . . . . . . until you have cash flow problems- then he will pull the rug from under you without a thought for you or your employees.
Always try to keep reserve funds and use overdraft facilities as an emergency aid and not as a source of working capital.

As has been mentioned previously, you cannot announce to the world that you are having financial difficulties, if you do that you are most certainly doomed. You have to trade as normal and try to work through the hard times.

I don't know Iain, but Lothian had been around for a while and appear to have been run honestly and safely.
It would be unfair to label them as dishonest.

Businesses fail, it is a fact of life.

Tarman

[Helinut]

Although various consumer organisations would wish it to be otherwise, customers of any service need to use their common sense. "Let the buyer beware" remains a sound principle. Any business can fail. The principle of Limited Companies is an established process by which entrepreneurs limit their liabilities, as intended by the law makers who represent us all.

It must be one of the most difficult decisions to make as to when you declare your business "in administration". Wait too long and you can commit an offence.

Anyone buying anything ahead of time needs to be aware that the provider may cease to trade. There are steps to take to limit or remove your exposure. The most obvious is to pay by credit card. In the end everyone who is a customer pays for that, since the 3% credit card charge levied on the provider will be included in the price of the service.

Lothian have operated for many years. I do not know Ian, but I am sure he did not want to go into administration. Quite possibly the decision was effectively made by others, such as their bank.

[heliboy999]

Such a shame! IG just kept on trying to keep it working and doing the best. The banks, the Recession and the CAA charges have obviously become too much to allow it to continue. Shame.
Hope IG keeps pulling collective in the future.

[1helicopterppl]

Perahps we should give IG the benefit of the doubt as one L/R (KATG) has recently been sold to Sweden & this may help with the finances........