LANCASHIRE County Council's trading standards department has warned people to be on their guard against companies offering "free" holidays.

Flyers sent by UK Consumer Competitions on behalf of Holidays Direct say you can get a holiday for two people for an administration fee of £29.50 each.

The company claims that the holidays will be offered within 18 months if people register inside seven days.

However, the reality is that the holiday is not yet arranged and the commitment from the company is to provide a destination, date and departure airport subject to arrangement during the 18 months.

This means that all they are offering is flights and accommodation and you may have to make extra payments for airport taxes and transfer to hotels.

For example, you could be offered a 5am flight from Stansted leaving in seven days which you would have to take or lose the money.

County Councillor Brian Johnson said: "We are not saying people will not get the holiday, but we are advising people to be extremely cautious.

"We would advise people to ask for confirmation of the bonding or security arrangements put in place by the company to safeguard customer payments before they pay out any money."