SUN-SEEKER Susan Parry was left high and dry when she went on a 'beach' holiday to "sizzling Sicily" with a specialist singles holiday company.

The Kafara hotel on the Mediterranean island was perched on top of a 300ft cliff and not on the beach, as claimed in the brochure.

All she found was a sea water pool carved out of the rocks -- and that was closed the following day because the hotel in Palermo hadn't paid its licence.

Susan, of Sandybank Road, Turton, was attracted to the holiday because it was hot, it was a beach holiday and it was somewhere she had always wanted to visit.

"I arrived after dark but the next morning I discovered the hotel was high on the cliffs with steps down," she said. "At the bottom there wasn't a beach, just some rocks and a sea pool.

"I would have chosen another holiday, in Turkey, if I'd have known. They offered me a £75 voucher in compensation but it was for one of their holidays which is a bit cheeky.

"The nearest beach to the hotel was a 20-minute walk away!"

Solo's Holidays Limited, of Bloomsbury Street, London, pleaded not guilty to two charges of contravening a provision of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours regulations of 1992 and one of knowingly making a false statement as to service.

The firm was acquitted on the first charge, relating to Ms Parry, and convicted of the second and third which were laid after a trading standards officer applied for a brochure and then viewed Solo's web site several months after Ms Parry first made her complaint.

The company was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs to Blackburn with Darwen Trading Standards, which brought the prosecution.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Ms Parry did not complain while she was in Sicily because she actually enjoyed the holiday.

She said: "That was due largely to the group of people I was with and my own attitude of 'I'm here now I might as well make the most of it but it wasn't what I wanted."

Andrew Church-Taylor, defending, said the company accepted the description in the brochure had not been accurate but they had relied entirely on information supplied by Sicilian agents who were reputable.

He said that as soon as the error was discovered a 'flash' notice was put on the computer system which instructed all booking staff to point out the problem.

All clients who had already booked were sent a letter offering them a full refund. "The company did all it possibly could to rectify the situation," said Mr Church-Taylor.

Speaking after the hearing Ms Parry, 55, who works for Bolton Mediation Services, said she had booked the holiday after the agents discovered the problem but was never alerted to the brochure discrepancies.