Holiday had not been booked

Holiday had not been booked

24 April 2013

LENORE Rea remembers the day she looked across St Patrick’s Avenue and her eyes fell upon La Mon Travel.

She was planning a family holiday, and wouldn’t normally have gone into a high street travel agent. Given the economic climate, however, she felt she wanted to support a local business.

“I looked across at La Mon Travel and I thought ‘I should give them a chance’,” she said.

It was a decision that would cause months of anguish and inconvenience, and nearly lost her thousands of pounds.

Lenore dealt with William Mark McConkey, partner and co-accused of Kathy Ward. Both pleaded guilty this week at Downpatrick Crown Court to a catalogue of fraud charges involving over 60 customers.

Lenore said she was initially surprised not to receive a booking reference number when she made her payment by credit card, but was told she would receive this later.

When her credit card bill arrived, however, below the £500 she had paid as a deposit for her planned holiday to Nice was a payment for nearly £2,000 for a ‘Trailfinders’ holiday.

“I rang him [McConkey] and said ‘I think there has been some sort of mistake, I have been charged for somebody else’s holiday’,” Lenore explained. “He said ‘I am really sorry I will look into that, it will take me a couple of days’, and that the credit card number must have been lying around on a notepad.

“I thought, I don’t like the sound of this, and I went over to the bank. I said I wanted to change my credit card immediately.”

Meanwhile Lenore’s holiday to Nice was approaching and she went to La Mon Travel to enquire about the information they needed to check in online. She was told to come back as they didn’t have that ready, and then told she didn’t need it.

At Lenore’s insistence they were given a reference number and set off for Dublin airport, where they were to travel to Nice. After attempting to check in, however, they were told to go to another desk where they needed to pay for their holiday.

“I said that we had paid for our holiday. I thought, does this woman think I am telling lies? I felt awful.”

With the airline insisting there were no flights booked to Nice, and faced with a hefty price tag had they chosen to pay for the tickets themselves that day, the family decided not go ahead with their holiday.

Not afraid of confronting Ward and McConkey, Lenore’s first stop was Rockmount Golf Club where she heard McConkey was a captain.

“I thought, well he can at least buy me lunch,” said.

He wasn’t there so the next stop was Downpatrick police station, where an officer told her there was a “big queue” of people waiting to make statements.

Lenore’s next stop was La Mon Travel.

“I said to him — ‘Mark, I am here for my money.... deal with me or every time someone comes in here to make an enquiry I will be getting up and asking for the money you stole from me’.”

Ten minutes later a man called in to the office to pick up a brochure and Lenore carried out her threat.

“He put the brochure down,” she said.

But McConkey was undaunted, even ringing the police to make a complaint.

“The cheek of him,” remarked Lenore. “I said, ‘no problem, we will go to the police’.”

With her complaint now officially lodged, Lenore was left with a fight with Bank of Ireland over who was responsible for paying out in her case.

“I did get my money back,” she said. “I was lucky. At the same time I’m sure I was out £200 between phone calls and going to Dublin and back again.

“If I was going to steal £100 out of somebody’s handbag what do you think would happen to me?”

Describing Ward and McConkey as “totally calculated”, Lenore believes the driving force behind their offending was “total greed” and want of a lavish lifestyle.

Stating she understood the legal process took time, Lenore also expressed concerned about the cost of the Legal Aid bill in this case and questioned the need for a full Preliminary Investigation into the charges at the Magistrate’s Court.

“What was the cost of that?” she said. “I think there was around 20 witnesses there.... We are all paying for that.”

Concluding with her thoughts on sentencing, Lenore said jail as an option was “no good” for Ward or McConkey: “She should serve the rest of her life working and paying people back. That would be far more justice.”