Scotland fans have to pay thousands out of their own pockets after the Euro 2024 tour operator goes bankrupt

Scotland fans were left shelling out cash after a travel company offering trips to the 2024 European Championships went into liquidation.

Football Road Trips Ltd, which offered tailor-made tours for fans promising “exciting and unique football experiences”, announced its bankruptcy, citing “skyrocketing costs” as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

STV News has learned that numerous Scotland fans had booked package holidays to Germany with the company and received minimal correspondence before being asked to pay higher fees due to the price increases.

Some fans complied, but still had to desperately try to find alternative travel plans because it was unclear whether the trips would take place due to a lack of contact from the company.

The packages included tickets to Scotland’s group matches, but fans were able to watch the action elsewhere, such as in fan zones, after arranging alternative travel.

After an investigation was launched through Paypal, some supporters managed to receive a partial and in some cases a full refund of the last installments paid. However, outstanding debts remained.

Neil Fernie, who booked with two friends, said his experience with the company was “appallingly bad” after it promised a number of attractive holiday add-ons.

He told STV News: “It sounded very attractive too.

“A ticket to see Scotland v Switzerland, staying in a four-star hotel every night, being picked up at Gatwick in a minibus with beer on the bus, it all sounded fantastic.

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“We were conned into paying monthly installments and it cost about £1,000 in total.

“The lack of communication on your part throughout the incident concerned me.”

He added: “It was horrific (not knowing what was happening). It was one of the worst things Scotland has been involved in for years.”

“While we were in Germany, we got the good news that we had gotten every cent back. So it worked out pretty well for us, but there were probably many others who weren’t so lucky.”

Citing “last-minute price increases” by providers, some European group tours had to be cancelled, the company said.

The company, which was renamed European Football Experience last year, said its business account had been temporarily suspended due to high demand for refunds.

The majority of the company’s employees have been laid off, which “impacts” the company’s ability to respond efficiently to customer inquiries, it said in a statement.

In a statement in response to STV News, the company said: “It is with great regret that Football Road Trips Ltd announces its liquidation as costs have continued to spiral since the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“The travel industry has been hit particularly hard in recent months and years and, like many other companies, it was no longer possible for us to survive.”

The company said it has provided “incredible, unique experiences” to thousands of people for years.

But last year, the tally of 5-star reviews changed. A spokesperson said the company had renamed itself European Football Experience (EFX) following a change in its majority shareholding.

Although the company sold package holidays for post-pandemic travel before and during Covid-19, it says it has seen significant price increases from providers.

“The costs of the tours sold are higher for us than the revenue we generate. This makes our business model unsustainable,” said the spokesman.

“Due to refund requests, our business account was temporarily blocked. To ensure that the trips could go ahead, we used PayPal to pay the final installment.

“These have now been refunded. Due to the financial burden, we had to lay off most of our staff, which limited our ability to respond efficiently to customer requests.”

The company said it operated the tours at a loss for a while before it became clear it could not sustain the model.

The spokesman said no tours had been sold for over a year, with the exception of European trips.

“We have initiated full or partial refunds as part of the liquidation process to settle all outstanding debts to customers,” they said.

The company tried to reassure remaining customers that outstanding refunds would be paid.

The spokesman explained why the plans for the UEFA European Championship fell through: “The European Championship trips were due to go ahead until another last-minute price increase from our suppliers forced us to increase the tour costs.”

“Some customers agreed to the price increase, but many did not, which made our group tours unprofitable.

“We deeply regret the inconvenience to anyone who did not receive their tour. We want to make it clear that we have never sold tours that we did not intend to operate, as demonstrated by our positive reviews up until the post-Covid crisis.

“It was never our intention to charge customers money and we are committed to solving this problem.”

The company said it is “now in the hands of liquidators,” who will contact any remaining customers who have not yet received a refund.