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Pinnacle Travel bust - Another school travel company gone

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
This one seems to missed your radar, so ill flag it up!

Pinnacle Travel has gone into liquidation as of the 14th of september. Another school ski company to the wall. This one however does seem to have some safe guards and solutions for the students, unlike the skiing europe fiasco! Makes you wonder.....who is next!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-14930960
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Was hunting for anyone having posted about this, having seen the post on the Ski Show website.

Looks as if they got two companies to help out:

http://www.metrosnow.co.uk/ski_news__events/article_display?article_id=648


Makes we wonder less about who's next, more why didn't the travel industry similarly leap to the aid of Ski Europe - were they aware of something?
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Arctic Roll, the reason the Ski Europe schools did not get any help was due to the fact that the crook running the show did not liquidate, he just lied. Pinnacle has gone into liquidation, therefoe the companies can do their "good turn" and pick up some good PR as well. It won't be the last school travel company to go bust by a long chalk under the current economic downturn. Ski Europe is still "officially" trading and the School Travel forum (a toothless entity at best) does nothing, the travel industry does nothing.

All the people in the industry have known about Reynard's shady practices for years, but no-one did anything. He like a few other dodgy operations got away with it because they all turned a blind eye. Evil or Very Mad
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
Samerberg Sue wrote:
All the people in the industry have known about Reynard's shady practices for years, but no-one did anything.


Can we just quash this one, once and for all. The TO industry didn’t know (and why would we) what Mr Reynard was up to for years, with regards to his ski company.

I “did” know about him “for years” but nothing to do with skiing – our major company operation is not running ski holidays, but rather Outdoor Pursuits Trips and Activities, and the Lime Bay incident was the major (some would say only) cause of the creation of the AALA – for those who don’t know this started as a good idea (although NOT thought through as it was just a political knee jerk reaction to the press coverage) and now, sadly, predictably has turned into a self justifying quango. It was the only reason that over 10 years ago we (I) simply decided to ban all children from our UK based activities. So yes he has had an effect - this being that children were banned from going on trips with the largest supplier in the industry.

Mind you there is a plus side to this, in that whilst the majority of the Outdoor Pursuits industry is still scrabbling around trying to appease pompous head teachers - more often than not by reducing costs to lower than that at which you can earn a decent living, whilst still running safe and efficient activities and, when things go wrong these same head teachers will apportion the blame elsewhere. Hmmm that reminds me of something I read on SH’s wink nothing changes....
Oh yes, and the plus side being – we never have to deal with them.


Early morning rant over Toofy Grin
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Wayne, so you did know about him and his sharp practices because of the Lyme Bay incident! Within the activity holiday scene he was known to be a loose cannon and slippery with it. Hence Peter Kyte was jailed for 18 months on the unusual charge of corporate manslaughter and Reynard slipped off the hook when it was his managerial practices that actually had unqualified people instructing out at sea without adequate safety cover. Shades of PGL in the late 60s and early 70s, before they became holier-than-thou!

I was told about him and warned off in the early 1970s by John Bowden (founder of Schoolplan and Skibound) as well as Tony Hourmont (Hourmont School Travel, Ski Total and father of Paul, Andrew and Rob). This is the reason that schools in and around Bristol were advised not to book any holidays with him, skiing or outdoor activity based. Our PE advisor at the time, Roger Webb, was quite right in issuing this advice. Looking at some of the schools and youth groups listed as having been burnt by him recently, the advice has been forgotten or scrapped since Roger left the authority.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Samerberg Sue,
I understand that this is an internet forum so anything said has very little to do with facts. But, for clarity, the “facts” are.

Some children were killed in Lime Bay during a canoeing activity.

There you go - that's the facts.

The next stuff isn't fact - It's my opinion only so may be wrong or or not, depending on your viewpoint.
Apart from lawyers, politicians and the press (and, many years later, some internet forum members)no-one actually though that if the instructor had been fully qualified it would have saved them. What “would” have saved them was quite simply not issuing them with spray decks – or better still not take children out into the sea without proper training in the 1st place. It was not CR that killed them, nor was it his cash grabbing management practices, etc – however much the mob would like it to have been. Of course it could be argued that a fully qualified instructor may have taken the decision not to issue spray decks and, if they did, then to ensure the kids knew how to (and practice in a safe area) their removal if you’re capsized.

I have taken begginers out in canoes with spray decks but NOT kids (as they tend to panic if upside down in the water) and NEVER on the sea. I spend a good deal of time ensureing that the people know how to get them off if they need to fast.

And before anyone jumps in and say something like well the courts thought this that or the other – I don’t care. The kids died due to the instructor cocking it up and nothing else. The public outcry, at the time, meant that someone (or entity) needed to get the blame and the centre manager was hung on to dry.

But to keep using the deaths of those poor kids to back up spurious internet arguments is to my mind ... well I’ll be polite and end it there.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Wayne, I was involved in the review of the practices involved for the Lyme Bay accident in 1993. I believe I know a wee bit more than you do about the facts of the case which ended up with 4 sixth formers dead.

I'll leave it there as well.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Wayne, So no-one in the TO industry knew or had reasonable grounds to suspect how he ran his operation based on what previously on snowheads have been referred to as "open secrets" amongst former staff, contractors and suppliers? Not saying it should have been you but if the winter sports TO industry is like any other then plenty of people hop between companies enough to ensure there is a decent circuit of gossip.
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