We had to end our holiday early as my wife fell ill. We cancelled the return BA flights six weeks in advance so why have we been left so out of pocket?

By

Linda Mckay

|

My wife and I booked a holiday to Lanzarote in May last year on a British Airways flight leaving on December 19 and returning February 13, 2014.

We paid £704 for the two of us plus an upgrade of £178. My wife became ill just before Christmas with a chest infection so we decided to return home, we booked a flight with Monarch as we could not change our BA flight online.

I sent an email to BA on January 1 to cancel our return flight and ask for a refund, BA told me that I was entitled to £17 cash back but I would have to pay £50 penalty claim so we wouldn’t get anything.

I think this is disgusting as we had paid nearly £900 to BA and they would have been able to sell our seats as they had six weeks before the return flight. What do your experts think? JG via email.

Out of pocket: British Airways offers a sliding scale of compensation if you have to cancel a flight.

Linda Mckay, of This is Money, replies: The terms and conditions of your

flight and BA policy would explain the sliding scale of refunds and

shown the penalty to pay for cancellation after departure.

BA charges travellers a fee for making a change to their booking or cancelling their flight altogether.

This

size of the fee generally depends on the type of flight you have

bought, how close to the flight date you are and where you are traveling

to. You can find out more about the charges on the BA website.

Most of us take out insurance to cover accidental expenditure on cars, travel and homes. In this case your travel insurer may have been able to help with some of the incurred cost.

However, there is no guarantee that any medical reason you give will be enough to satisfy the insurer, as our expert explains.

Graeme Trudgill, of the British Insurance Brokers Association, replies: Travel insurance is there to help you if you fall ill abroad.

The usual process is for the customer to contact the 24-hour emergency medical helpline, they would make arrangements for your wife to seek prompt assistance from a local medical expert who would assess if she could be treated and continue with the holiday or if she would require repatriation.

The insurance policy would respond accordingly and pay for treatment or for curtailment costs and alternative flight costs if the medical expert suggested this was the most suitable course of action for your wife’s health.

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Cloud 9,

Villa Las Estrellas, Antarctica,

1 day ago

Read your travel insurance closely and follow it to the letter. BA probably have fully flexible ticket offers which enable you to fly when you want. They will be expensive. If you contract to buy an inflexible cheaper ticket read the small print. The rules are stated explicitly.

Markiep,

Cardiff, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

A bit strange really as BA doesn’t fly to Lanzarote! I wonder if this could be a fabricated story?

Mrs P,

Cheshire,

1 day ago

Surely this can be classed as ‘non-fulfilment of contract’? I believe that you have a case to take this to the small claims court on that basis.

female,

Stockport, Manchester,

1 day ago

People are missing the point here. It doesn’t cost BA £900 in administration when a ticket is cancelled. If any airline is able to resell the tickets they why should the airline get all that money for free? The passenger should get some money back, minus a reasonable admin charge. Yes it is in the “terms and conditions” but the “terms and conditions” in this case are just a scam!

John S,

Bromley, United Kingdom,

2 days ago

They should have flown Ryanair.

pobo2600,

london, United Kingdom,

2 days ago

My wife’s father died a week ago, she had a flight booked with BA to go out on 8th March with a return on the 15th. Due to circumstances we went out earlier, we phoned BA to tell them she would not be using the flight on the 8th but would still want to return on the originally booked flight of the 15th. They wanted to charge us £500 for the privilege of returning on a flight we had already booked whilst they had the opportunity to sell on the outbound flight.

pobo2600,

london, United Kingdom,

2 days ago

My wife’s father died a week ago, she had a flight booked with BA to go out on 8th March with a return on the 15th. Due to circumstances we went out earlier, we phoned BA to tell them she would not be using the flight on the 8th but would still want to return on the originally booked flight of the 15th. They wanted to charge us £500 for the privilege of returning on a flight we had already booked whilst they had the opportunity to sell on the outbound flight.

acynic,

Lancs,

2 days ago

this seem like another case of i did something wrong but every body else is to blame. insurance insurance insurance.

morpethian,

krakow, Poland,

2 days ago

you can fly To Lanzarote for 300 pound for 2 .its not worth 400 pound extra flying BA on such a short flight

Markiep,

Cardiff, United Kingdom,

1 day ago

BA don’t fly to Lanzarote, unless they’ve stopped that route since last year.

sholtie,

Glasgow, United Kingdom,

2 days ago

This is what travel insurance is for. For our last holiday (10 days) my wife and I paid nearly £1000 in travel insurance but would not of dreamed of travelling without it. One other point if it was a chest infection why didn’t they stay in tenerife where surely the better wheather would of been better for her health.

my tip BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE.

WhatOnEarth,

Oxford, United Kingdom,

2 days ago

Where did you go that you paid £1000 for the insurance alone??!!

sholtie,

Glasgow, United Kingdom,

2 days ago

Went to the USA but as my wife has existing medical conditions and was also undergoing tests for a heart complaint it put the price right up. Now the tests are complete and problem resolved we can get a years insurance for under £1000

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We had to end our holiday early as my wife fell ill. We cancelled the return BA flights six weeks in advance so why have we been left so out of pocket?

Lend-to-save provider Zopa offers new record low personal loan rate of 4.4 per cent

By

Emma Gunn

|

Lend-to-save provider Zopa has undercut the banks to offer a new record low interest rate of 4.4 per cent on its borrowing.

Its new-and-improved offer has catapulted the alternative finance platform to the top of the mid-size loans table, beating the next best deal by 0.1 per cent. The cherry on top is that households can pay back what they owe at any time – without having to foot the bill for a hefty early repayment fee.

But, even though Zopa has become the first provider to break the 4.5 per cent barrier, is it worth turning your back on the banks for a cheaper rate?

Home improvements: Borrowers can now take out a loan at an all-time low rate of 4.4 per cent from Zopa

Personal loans have been getting cheaper in recent months thanks to a flurry of rate cuts.

Although lenders have not been slicing their prices dramatically, the constant game of one-upmanship with cuts of just 0.1 per cent have slowly driven down the cost of loans to an all time low.

If this downward trend continues, Zopa’s new rate, which has broken the 4.5 per cent barrier, could start another flurry of competition.

What will it cost you?

Zopa is advertising a rate of 4.4 per cent, down from 4.5 per cent, on three to five-year loans between £7,500 and £15,000.

It does not offer one-year loans, and its two-year loan has a higher rate of 6.2 per cent. 

Over a three year period, borrowing £7,500 through the lend-to-save provider would cost a total of £8,010, with monthly repayments of £223 a month.

Customers do

pay a fixed fee of up to £190, depending on the size and term

of their loan, but this cost is reflected in the APR quoted

and charged.

The real benefit of lend-to-save, also known as peer-to-peer, loans is that there are no early repayment fees if you can clear the loan early or make over-payments.

If you are able to repay the money before the end of the term, most banks will charge up to 58 days’ interest on the remaining amount – meaning in some cases it is not actually worthwhile clearing it early.

WHAT IS LEND-TO-SAVE?

Lend-to-save, otherwise known as peer-to-peer, sites work as money matchmakers – pairing savers searching for higher interest rates with borrowers

looking for a cheap way to borrow.

Cutting out the middleman, ie the banks, usually means savers get a better rate while borrowers pay a marginally lower rate.

The main concern

for consumers considering lend-to-save has previously been that the industry was unregulated, which meant there was no official system in place to govern these kinds of platforms.

However, industry regulation has now been unveiled by the FCA, meaning that peer-to-peer loans are protected should the platform collapse.

The small print

Lend-to-save providers tend to have a stricter criteria on who they

will lend to, so as to avoid unnecessary defaults.

This means fewer applicants are likely to be accepted by Zopa than by a High Street bank.

For example, Zopa says it will not accept applications from anybody who is unemployed or under the age of 20. You must also have a good track record of repaying debt, and decent credit history.

Even if you are accepted, as with any loan, only 51 per cent of applicants are legally bound to be offered the headline rate – so you might end up with a deal charging higher interest.

That said, one of the major draws of the loan is

that it offers a soft search before you apply.

This means that you can

find out if you are likely to be accepted, and the rate you will be offered without leaving a mark on your credit rating.

If you don’t have a strong credit history, you may be offered a higher interest rate, but the rate offered will not change if you go on to take out the loan.

Are there any risks?

Although lend-to-save is still an alternative form of finance, new industry regulation by the FCA means that customers are protected should something go wrong.

This mostly affects savers, but it is worth noting that if the platform folds, a third party would step in to manage the company’s loans and borrowers would continue to repay as normal.

The terms of your borrowing would not change as they are fixed between the lender and the borrower rather than the platform itself – meaning the third party could not suddenly hike your interest.

The

new regulation

also means that borrowers have a 14 day cooling off period to change

their mind after they take out a loan and all lend-to-save providers

have to provide clear information on the risks of

defaulting and how this would affect them.

You can find out about what will happen if you cannot repay your Zopa loan here.

CHEAPEST RATES ON £7,500+ LOANS

So is it worth signing up?

Zopa’s new best-buy offering undercuts the

previous table-topping rate of 4.5 per cent by 0.1 per cent – a saving of £11 on a £7,500 loan.

It also beats its main peer-to-peer

competitor, RateSetter, by an impressive 2.3 per cent. This saves £16.77 each month on a £7,500 loan lasting three years.

The flexibility of Zopa’s loans is another aspect that makes it stand out.

Both Halifax and Lloyds Bank have recently launched flexible loans, offering no early-repayment charges if you pay off the balance before the end of your agreed term – but they come with existing customer restrictions and much higher interest.

The Halifax Clarity loan charges 5.9 per cent on medium-sized loans, but it is only open to existing Halifax customers with either a current account (excluding

Easycash), mortgage, savings, credit card or loan. This is £178.20 more expensive than a Zopa loan for £7,500 over three years.

The Lloyds Bank Flexible Loan will cost 7.4 per cent for existing customers, but those who have held a current account for five years or more will be offered a preferential rate of 6.4 per cent. This is £347 more expensive than a Zopa loan for £7,500 over three years.

Read more about these flexible loans here.

Zopa, however, does not offer the best price for

borrowing over a shorter term.

It does not offer

one-year loans and it’s two-year deals are also charged at a much higher 6.2 per cent. So it would probably be worth taking out a three year deal to lock down the 4.4 per cent rate, and paying back early.

Those looking to borrow over one or two years could also opt for a loan charging 4.5 per cent from either Sainsbury’s Bank and Santander (see below).

Santander’s mid-sized loan is open to everybody but to take out a Sainsbury’s Bank loan you will need to have a Nectar Card. Plus, it only offers its best rate to borrowers looking to repay during the first one to three years.

Top tip: Savvy borrowers could bag themselves an even cheaper rate using the Sainsbury’s Bank Price Promise (see below).

The next best deals are offered by Derbyshire, Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank at 4.6 per cent.

On a £10,000 loan this would cost you an extra £21, and £1 extra each month than the leading offer.

DO YOU HAVE A NECTAR CARD – YOU COULD PAY JUST 4.3 PER CENT

Sainsbury’s Bank advertises a rate of 4.5 per cent on its Standard Loan, lasting between one and three years. Anything above that costs 4.7 per cent.

But the loan’s small print – the Price Promise – means you can bag yourself an even cheaper rate then Zopa is currently offering because it offers to undercut any like-for-like loan by 0.1 per cent.

Usually there are strict criteria on what qualifies as a like-for-like loan. But although most people would not consider a peer-to-peer lender as a similar product, Sainsbury’s Bank has confirmed to This is Money that lend-to-save loans are included in the offer.

This is great news for Nectar Card holders willing to put in a bit

of extra leg work, because they could end up seriously cutting the cost of interest.

To get the 4.3 per cent rate you would have to provide a written offer

from the Zopa in the same name as the loan offered by

Sainsbury’s within 28 days of your borrowing being approved.

This unfortunately means that you have to actually apply for the Zopa loan first before using it to bag a cheaper rate with Sainsbury’s Bank. You won’t be able to use any confirmation from Zopa of the rate you will be offered produced by the pre-application soft search.

You also must not have accepted the standard loan offer by signing and returning the Sainsbury’s Loan agreement.

The loans must be compared on a like-for-like basis, based on features such as, but not limited to, length of loan,

fixed loan amount and repayment structure (including interest and set up

fees – if any).

If

you are not a Nectar card holder, you cannot apply for the deal.

However this is easily remedied by signing up for a free Nectar Card.

The offer may be higher

depending on your personal circumstances, credit assessment procedures

and other related factors. 

Remember that every time you apply for credit it makes a mark on your credit file. Locking down the Price Promise would mean you are essentially applying for two loans.

BEST LOW RATE PERSONAL LOANS

  Clydesdale

  4.6% best no-frills

     Santander

     Best buy rate of 4.5%

    Sainsbury’s

     £7,500 for 4.5%

    HSBC

     £7.5k to £25k for 4.8%

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Lend-to-save provider Zopa offers new record low personal loan rate of 4.4 per cent

Shell boss Ben Van Beurden"s plans for the company are overshadowed by former boss Peter Voser"s £22m pay deal

By

Rob Davies

|

Shell boss Ben van Beurden’s grand plan to spruce up the oil giant has been overshadowed by criticism of his predecessor’s £22million two-year pay deal.

The Dutchman set out a blueprint that will see Shell shrink its North American shale operations and improve efficiency by focusing on individual projects and businesses.

But some investors seized on the fact that former boss Peter Voser earned £22million over two years – including a £1.5million bonus for 2013, a year that ended with the group’s first profit warning in a decade.

Blueprint: Ben van Beurden set out plans that will see Shell shrink its North American shale operations

One veteran City fund manager said: ‘Van Beurden said the 2013 performance was not what he expects from Shell. That begs the question of why any bonus was paid at all.’

He also questioned Shell’s decision to wait until the January 1, 2015 deadline to implement new laws making pay policies binding, when even Barclays has activated the policy pre-emptively.

Waiting until next year will allow Shell to make ‘ex gratia’ payments outside of its pay policy, in what the fund manager called a ‘loophole of accountability’.

But both the fund manager and investor lobby group ShareAction welcomed van Beurden’s plan to link pay to return on capital employed, which measures a company’s profitability and efficiency.

Sources close to the company also pointed out that Voser’s total pay fell in line with Shell’s performance, more than halving to £7million last year as profits fell 38 per cent.

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Shell boss Ben Van Beurden"s plans for the company are overshadowed by former boss Peter Voser"s £22m pay deal

ALEX BRUMMER: Morrisons" price war could help struggling families if all of the supermarkets are forced to lower prices

By

Alex Brummer

|

Wm Morrison chief executive Dalton Philips is either a retail genius, who suddenly has seen the light on the changing shape of Britain’s grocery market, or has found a grand theory to hide the shortcomings of the group he heads.

Whatever view one takes he is unlikely to be the pin-up of shareholders in the big supermarket groups, who saw their shares ravaged by Philips’ declaration of a price war.

Not that this is always a bad thing.

Heavy losses: Morrisons sent a shiver down the High Street after issuing another profit warning that also wiped 8 per cent off the shares of rival Sainsbury’s and 4.9 per cent off Tesco

If food prices start to tumble in the

stores, as a result of the Morrisons challenge, all those families

struggling against the background of the last five years of hard times

will be cheering from the sidelines.

The Morrisons view is that the Aldi and Lidl challenge is here to stay and British supermarkets are going to have to fight fire with fire by relentlessly cutting prices and ranges if the overseas assault is to be seen off.

Philips likens the price war ahead as a bit like that in the airline industry that has seen easyJet and Ryanair become giant carriers and in clothing where Primark has stolen share from Marks Spencer.

There is an element of truth to all of this. But Morrisons also has itself to blame for the pre-tax loss (after write-offs) of £176million and the prospective halving of profits in the coming financial year.

Until the deal with Ocado, done at a relatively high price, its online strategy was a disaster. Deals with Kiddicare here and Fresh Direct in New York have demonstrably been shown to be follies. It has also been let down by some ancient logistics and antiquated tills and systems.

The group started investing in convenience stores light years after Tesco set course.
Nevertheless, Philips has a point.

The German challengers are behemoths that have been conquering Western Europe.

They launched their UK challenge in the North –where Morrisons is strongest – and are now moving South. So what is the Bradford-based grocer’s problem today, could be Tesco’s, J Sainsbury and Asda’s tomorrow.

If there is a difference it is that Asda has the power of WalMart behind it, Sainsbury has Qatar as a strategic shareholder and Tesco –as the biggest of beasts in the UK jungle – has a large amount of market share to lose before it is brought to its knees.

Morrisons, now that the family is no longer the dominant influence, lacks a sugar daddy.

It is paradoxical that Morrisons, which has its own supply chain from farms to factories, making some of its produce more expensive, is choosing to fight on price where it has one hand behind its back.

Nevertheless it is a brave challenge, conducted with confidence that the cash flow is still strong and aided by the release of £1billion from superfluous property sales.

Philips has set out his stall and a brutal battle has commenced. But no one can be sure he has chosen the right weaponry.

Fitness tests

After several days when oversight of the Bank of England has been the focus of attention, following the rigging of foreign exchange rates, the attention is now back on the banks it regulates.

It is looking at two separate issues.

First, it wants to ensure the rewards of bankers are properly aligned with the interest of stability and the Bank thinks the current practice, of looking across a three to five-year time horizon, is not good enough because it does not fully straddle an economic cycle.

Some City interests are certain to dispute this view on the grounds that such stipulations may make the labour market in the Square Mile less competitive than that in New York and across the Asian markets.

The Bank also is being asked to re-examine the licences of the upper echelons of British finance.

A series of poor appointments including Lord Stevenson and Andy Hornby at HBOS, Sir Tom McKillop at Royal Bank of Scotland and, most notoriously, the Reverend Paul Flowers at the Co-op, have demonstrated the need for senior bankers to have some depth of experience in the financial sector.

It will be fascinating to see if the exercise carried out by the Prudential Regulatory Authority, throws up any anomalies.

The good and the great had better start polishing their CVs.

Trapped eagle

Being chair of the Barclays remuneration panel is turning out to be the City’s most poisoned chalicey.

Dame Alison Carnwath took the fall for Bob Diamond’s extravagances and left the board after suffering a heavy vote against reappointment. Now Sir John Sunderland, long serving veteran on the Barclays board, is under fire for the payments made since Carnworth’s exit.

Judging from the reaction at Canary Wharf, it doesn’t appear as if anyone is rushing to the barricades.

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ALEX BRUMMER: Morrisons" price war could help struggling families if all of the supermarkets are forced to lower prices

Chancellor George Osborne set to claim that his "economic plan for Britain is working," but austerity may last until 2020

By

Hugo Duncan

|

George Osborne will next week use his fifth Budget as Chancellor to declare that his economic plan is working and Britain is on the road back to prosperity.

He will say that the biggest risk to the recovery would be changing course and returning to the bad old days under Labour of higher taxes, more borrowing and more spending.

It will be a highly political statement – hardly surprising given the General Election is just 14 months away.

Road to recovery: Behind the rhetoric and promise of a balanced and sustainable recovery the outlook for the public finances will be grim

But behind the rhetoric and promise of a balanced and sustainable recovery the outlook for the public finances will be grim.

The Office for Budget Responsibility will no doubt raise its growth forecasts for the coming years.

The Bank of England now expects output to increase by 3.4 per cent this year, 2.7 per cent in 2015 and 2.8 per cent in 2016 – considerably stronger than the 2.4 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 2.6 per cent predicted by the OBR in the Autumn Statement in December.

But the Government is still on course to borrow around £111billion this year – down from a record of more than £157billion under Labour but still the fifth-biggest annual deficit in British history.

The national debt – already more than tripled from under £400billion a decade ago to over £1.2trillion today – is set to top £1.5trillion in the next three or four years.

Servicing the national debt is the fourth-largest area of expenditure by the Government behind welfare, health and education. 

This year it will cost the UK’s 29.9million taxpayers more than £1,650 each.

The parlous state of the public finances leaves the Chancellor with very little room for pre-election giveaways.

Eye-catching moves such as a 1p cut in the basic rate of income tax – a move the Treasury believes would cost £3.8billion in the first year rising to £4.5billion – remain as far away as ever.

More than 20million workers have benefited from increases in the personal allowance – the amount you can earn before paying tax – but the number of people paying the 40p rate has risen from just over 1.7million 20 years ago to 4.4million today.

More than 5million workers are expected to be in the 40p tax bracket by the time of the next election in 2015 – two million more than at the time of the 2010 election.

‘The higher rate is no longer something faced only by the highly paid few,’ says Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Tory MPs are calling on Osborne to ease the burden on the millions who have been or face being sucked into the higher rate of tax.

There may be some help here but anyone expecting a dramatic change of tack is likely to be disappointed.

Economic plans: Osborne plans to say the biggest risk to the recovery would be changing course and returning to the bad old days under Labour

The Chancellor could even be forced to extend austerity to 2020 to plug a £20billion black hole that has opened up due to the structural deficit – the bit which does not automatically disappear with stronger growth – being bigger than expected.

John Hawksworth, chief economist at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: ‘There is still a long way to go to put the public finances back on a sound footing, and this is likely to imply a relatively cautious approach by the Chancellor in the Budget.

As he made clear in the Autumn Statement, there are still many years of fiscal austerity to come and little room for pre-election giveaways.’

It was, of course, all meant to be so different.

When Osborne delivered his first Budget in June 2010 he was expecting growth of 1.2 per cent in 2010, 2.3 per cent in 2011, 2.8 per cent in 2012 and 2.9 per cent in 2013.

Instead he got growth of 1.7 per cent in 2010 followed by 1.1 per cent in 2011, 0.3 per cent in 2012 and 1.8 per cent in 2013.

It means that borrowing this year will be nearly twice the £60billion expected and the national debt will be around 75 per cent of national income and rising, rather than around 70 per cent and falling.

Andrew Smith, chief economist at KPMG, said: ‘The Government’s original strategy was to combine economic recovery with repair of the public finances within the current five-year Parliament.

The good news is that we are finally getting the recovery; the bad news is that we are only halfway through what has now become a decade-long deficit reduction programme, severely limiting the Chancellor’s room for manoeuvre in this year’s Budget.’

The Budget will be the most upbeat for years with record numbers of people in work, inflation back below the 2 per cent target, and the economy on the verge of returning to its pre-recession peak.

But, as the Chancellor himself will say, the crucial job of restoring the public finances to health is far from over.

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Mr Slightly Annoyed,

Little England, United Kingdom,

49 minutes ago

We (Labour) borrowed a fortune and spent it buying votes. Now we have to pay it back.

Assume The Position,

So the Tories can Kill You, United Kingdom,

2 hours ago

So he’s cut our pensions by 20%, the jobs on the internet pay 10K less than they did 5 years ago, our children’s university educations cost more than 10K a year, FFL and HTB have stimulated a low deposit house price apocalypse, real-world inflation has reduced our spending power by about 20%, savers have lost 325 billion in interest, “so far,” to pay for his 375 billion quantitative easing crime against the future, I’ve personally lost over 40K in interest payments, and his economic policies are further undermining job security as lower wage competition increasingly threatens us all ……………………… but his plan is working? Brown was a disaster, which is why we elected the Tories to put an end to his economic mania of making house prices the economy. Britain’s recovery is 100% borrowed on the back of living standards crippling mortgage debt. It’s the slowest and least real of any of our major competitors. Why wait till 2015 for the election, I want to vote Osborne out now.

hari BABU60,

HARROW, United Kingdom,

3 hours ago

If only and only if they had not claimed for the duck house and things ! and filled ones own pockets , without any damn shame !

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Chancellor George Osborne set to claim that his "economic plan for Britain is working," but austerity may last until 2020

Britain invests in direct flights between Beijing and Birmingham to entice 650,000 Chinese tourists to indulge in British culture

By

Ray Massey, Transport Editor

|

As China’s burgeoning middle classes begin to enjoy the finer things in life – indulging in British culture appears to be high up on their to-do list.

The huge influx of Chinese tourists to London has even prompted the start of direct charter flights for tourists to begin between Beijing and Birmingham.

They will be the first direct holiday charter flights between China and any British airport outside of London and help tourism chiefs achieve their target of welcoming 650,000 Chinese visits a year by 2020.

Extra passengers: There is a joint initiative between Birmingham Airport, China Southern Airlines, Chinese package tour specialists Caissa Travel Management and Birmingham-China specialist agency United Travel

And, one of the most popular attractions for the Chinese, is the Bard – with tourist chiefs saying Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon were high on the list of ‘must sees’ for Chinese tourists.

Also high on the tourist trail are Warwick Castle and the upmarket designer-label Bicester Village shopping complex.

Britain’s second city – Birmingham – is also a draw, they insisted.

Organisers say the joint initiative between Birmingham Airport, China Southern Airlines, Chinese package tour specialists Caissa Travel Management, and Birmingham-China specialist agency United Travel, demonstrates the enormous demand for more flights between the two countries.  

William Shakespeare’s birthplace: One of the most popular attractions for the Chinese, is Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon

Caissa, one of China’s leading travel specialists, is to sell a range of organised package tours to Chinese visitors seeking to explore ‘world class tourism attractions’ in the Midlands, the North of England as well as London.

Ahead of the first flights the airport is investing in Chinese terminal signs, staff ‘cultural awareness’ training, mandarin speaking front of house staff, and specific web-pages translated into mandarin, as well as a dedicated VAT refund facility for passengers to use before jetting back home.

Direct flights between Birmingham and Beijing are possible following a £40million investment by Birmingham Airport to extend the runway, which will open next month.

The summer programme involves direct flights from Beijing into Birmingham between July 22nd and August 6th.

China Southern Airlines will operate a 248 seat A330-200 aircraft on the route.

A Birmingham Airport  spokesman said: ‘The runway extension will provide airlines with unlimited take off range, allowing jets to fly direct to China, and puts Birmingham in an ideal place to become an alternative gateway to the UK for flights from China and beyond.’

Birmingham Airport’s chief executive Paul Kehoe said: ‘Three years’ collaborative working has established  relationships in China to promote the many jewels that the Midlands has to offer, such as The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Warwick Castle, Bicester Village and the vibrant city of Birmingham itself.’

British bargains: A Chinese tourists grabs a piece of British culture by searching for bargains in Clark’s shoe shop

‘There is an alternative gateway into the UK for those wanting to visit Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick and Birmingham – destinations that make this country great.’

China is currently one of the fastest growing visitor source markets for the UK tourism industry at a rate of 20 per cent year-on-year over the past few years with the market trebling over the past decade and forecast to grow even more.

In 2012 the Chinese visitor market was worth £15million to the West Midlands economy alone with Birmingham now the fourth most popular destination for Chinese visitors in England.

The deal follows a three-year strategic cooperation agreement between the British Tourist Authority and China’s Caissa Travel – a large integrated tour operator.

The partnership is part of the VisitBritain ‘GREAT China Welcome’ campaign announced during Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to China in November 2013.

Chen Xiaobing, chief executive of Caissa Travel, said the aim was to grow Chinese tourism in the UK.

‘Birmingham is not only the UK’s second largest city, but it is also an important tourist destination.

‘A number of ‘seat only’ tickets and package holidays, flying direct, are also available for UK residents wishing to visit China. 

Ann Leung, director of United Travel said: ‘We are constantly receiving enquiries from business travellers and tourists wishing to visit China, and students and Chinese people wanting to travel home. We are therefore incredibly proud to be part of this important initiative.’

Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: ‘China is a hugely significant market for Birmingham and the West Midlands, so we look forward to the prospect of even more Chinese visitors coming to the city using this new, landmark route’.

Sandie Dawe, chief executive of VisitBritain said: ‘Britain is attracting more Chinese travellers than ever before. The Birmingham route will encourage Chinese visitors to explore new areas of Britain and help to achieve our target of welcoming 650,000 Chinese visits a year by 2020.’

Culture Secretary Maria Miller said the announcement was ‘great news’ noting: ‘China is a vital trade and tourism partner for us and opening up this new route will encourage even more Chinese visitors to fly to our country and experience more of what our great nation has to offer outside of the capital – from tourist attractions to shopping, culture to heritage.’

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Britain invests in direct flights between Beijing and Birmingham to entice 650,000 Chinese tourists to indulge in British culture

Reckless bankers could be stripped of their bonuses under radical new plans by the Bank of England

By

James Salmon

|

Hundreds of bank executives would be forced to re-apply for their jobs under radical plans being considered by the Bank of England after the Paul Flowers scandal.

The Bank is also consulting on new powers to claw back bonuses for wrongdoing or reckless behaviour, even after they have been cashed in.

A senior official at Threadneedle Street said regulators might ‘re-assess the fitness and propriety’ of senior staff under a tougher new vetting regime.

Clawing back cash: Could bankers be stripped of their hefty bonuses in the future?

Katharine Braddick admitted ‘some of the assessments made under the old regime, some of which have featured in the press, were inappropriate’.

Her comments are a clear reference to the appointment of a string of now disgraced names with meagre banking experience.

High-profile failures include Co-op Bank’s former chairman, the  Reverend Paul Flowers, pictured, former HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby, former Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir Tom McKillop and former HBOS chairman Lord Stevenson.

Their appointments were rubber stamped by defunct City watchdog the Financial Services Authority, despite the lack of a single formal banking qualification between them.

Braddick, a director at the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority, said: ‘We have to recognise that there are many people who were approved by the FSA in the past who would not receive that approval today’.

Up to 1,180 senior executives and staff with ‘significant influence functions’, such as board members, could face rigorous interviews to determine whether they are fit to do their jobs.

The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority will consult over the summer on plans to replace the existing ‘approved person’ regime with a tougher ‘senior persons regime’. It will also look at whether to extend banks’ powers to seize back bonuses from misbehaving bankers.

The new rules, which would come into force on January 1 2015, could apply to past awards that pay out after that date.

Barclays’ pay chief Sir John Sunderland is expected to face a vote to oust him at the bank’s AGM after approving a rise in bonuses despite falling profits.

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Reckless bankers could be stripped of their bonuses under radical new plans by the Bank of England