Firm goes bust after taking ‘thousands’ from fans for football trips

A company that left dozens of football fans fighting for refunds after paying thousands for trips that never happened has gone into liquidation. Football Road Trips said ‘spiralling costs’ since the pandemic had made it ‘impossible’ for the business to survive.

It issued an apology to customers whose trips were cancelled at the eleventh hour, adding all affected customers would be refunded. Football Road Trips was founded by Brummie Kai Rigby, from Aston, in 2015 and organised excursions for fans to watch matches across Europe.

But a number of fans, some of whom had trips booked to the European Championships in Germany, told BirminghamLive their trips were cancelled last minute, and said their questions about refunds were met with ‘radio silence’ for months. One, who forked out £9,000 for a stag-do trip to Europe, said he had ‘not seen a penny back’ months after his trip was cancelled.

READ MORE: Refund demands as football fans spend thousands on trips that never happened

Football Road Trips yesterday, June 24, announced the business was in the hands of liquidators who would contact all customers awaiting refunds. The company, which changed its name to The European Football Experience (EFX), said in a statement: “It is with great regret that Football Road Trips Ltd announces its liquidation following continued spiralling costs since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Over the past months and years, the travel industry has been particularly hard hit, and we, like many other businesses, have found it impossible to survive.

“Founded many years ago, our company provided incredible, unique experiences to thousands of people, as evidenced by hundreds of five-star reviews until early last year. In response to a change in majority shareholding, we rebranded as EFX last year, maintaining our commitment to delivering exceptional travel experiences.”

One fan who was left out-of-pocket by the company was Billy Wakefield, who booked a stag do trip in January 2023 for him and 15 friends which never happened. He told BirminghamLive: “The day of the trip came and it was never cancelled – they didn’t even email us to apologise or offer a refund. None of us have had a penny back from the company. It’s caused us a lot of stress.”

Scotland fan Ryan Kemp booked a trip to the Euros back in December 2023 for him and his father and son. Having paid nearly £2,000 for the trip, he claimed it was cancelled at the last minute, with no further communication regarding refunds.

He said: “On the Monday before the Euros, we were told our trip was cancelled with no timescale for refunding us. I’ve sent them a number of emails asking for the match tickets, and telling them we’d arrange our own travel, but they haven’t responded.”

Responding to the concerns, Football Road Trips Ltd said the company was contending with ‘signficiant price rises’ post Covid-19 which made its business model ‘unsustainable.’ A statement read: “The financial strain forced us to release the majority of our staff, hindering our ability to respond to customers efficiently.”

Due to ‘refund demands’, the firm claimed its business account was ‘temporarily suspended’ – and it used PayPal for the last installments to ensure trips went ahead. It said those were later refunded.

The firm continued: “We have initiated refunds, either in full or partially, with the liquidation process in place to resolve any outstanding debt to customers. We assure all remaining customers that outstanding refunds will be paid. The Euros trips were all set to proceed until yet another last-minute price increase from our suppliers forced us to raise tour costs. While some customers agreed to the price increase, many did not, rendering our group tours unviable.

“We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to anyone who did not receive their tour. We want to make it clear we never sold tours we did not intend to run, as reflected in our positive reviews up until the post-Covid crisis. We never intended for customers to be out-of-pocket, and we are committed to resolving this.

“The business is now in the hands of liquidators, who will contact all remaining customers yet to receive refunds. Once again, we are deeply sorry to anyone whose trip had to be cancelled. The liquidators will be in touch with affected customers in due course. Thank you for your understanding at this very difficult time.”