A DARWEN man has successfully sued a travel company after claiming an insurance error spoiled his holiday.

Roy Davies, of Olive Lane has been awarded more than £800 by an arbitration panel headed by Margaret Rutherford QC, after an 18-month battle to get compensation.

Mr Davies argued an insurance scheme bought before a trip to Florida in 1999 from Darwen travel agency Sun Living was the wrong one and that when his party arrived they were forced to compromise their plans.

Today Mr Davies said: "Finally an end has been brought to this. For the last 18 months we have been passed from pillar to post. I am really happy a settlement has been reached.

"I bought insurance from Sun Living under the impression that it was for two cars. My party which was made up of me, my wife and two sons wanted to visit different places than my brother and his family so we decided to get two cars.

"A deal was agreed between us and Sun Living for the fly-drive holiday which cost £410 per person.

"I was told that this price would include travel insurance, two cars and the relevant car insurance.

"But when we got there we were told that the rental company, Dollar, would not accept the insurance as it was not their own package.

"We were faced with the prospect of having to pay £3,000 deposit on two cars but we could not afford that amount."

It meant both parties had to share a car, meaning no-one could enjoy the full holiday. Roy said: "We decided it was cheaper to go for one car but we still had to give a deposit of £500 and take out Dollar's own insurance."

Mr Davies launched an action against both Sun Living and Transatlantic Vacations, the company which actually operates the fly-drive holiday. In defence, Transatlantic Vacations said Sun Living had not asked if Dollar would accept the insurance package Mr Davies had paid for. If they had, they would have been told the package was unacceptable.

Sun Living said that the insurance package they had arranged with Mr Davies' party was entirely adequate and that this was the first problem the company had encountered with car insurance in America.

They said that Transatlantic Vacations should pay because they never told them about Dollar's insurance requirements.

Mrs Rutherford QC concluded that Sun Living were responsible for arranging car insurance and hire and that it was up to them to find out what insurance was acceptable and what was not.

Mr Davies and his party received £804 compensation and got his £36 registration fee back from Sun Living.

He also issued a warning to other would-be holiday makers in Darwen. He said: "I would tell anyone who is travelling to places like America to make sure every last detail is in place before they set off."

Tony Lawrence, manager of Sun Living, said: "I am very disappointed at the decision as I did not feel it was the company's fault. However the judge has a made a decision and we have to accept that."

Picture: Roy Davies celebrates with son Adam Davies, four