A travel agent that was based at the ABC Shopping Centre, The Broadway, Southall has been given a three-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

Abida Khatoon Kyani, of Pinkwell Lane, Hayes, who was director of S M Travel Limited ((07974123)) was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on 23 August 2022.

She was also ordered to pay compensation and do community work. She was disqualified from being a director for six years and has to pay compensation to each victim.

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The travel agent admitted to two counts of breaching trading standards legislation, which involved taking cash for flight tickets which she then never actually bought for those customers.

The investigation was launched after a number of complaints from vulnerable customers. They lost thousands of pounds when the tickets failed to arrive, leaving their holiday plans in disarray.

Between October 2017 and August 2018 a number of customers paid Kyani for the flights but they received nothing. Some even went to airport with bags packed. They couldn’t get on the flights as the tickets, they had paid for, had not been booked by Kyani.

Some of them were persuaded into buying replacement tickets to reach their destination. Most of the customers were travelling to Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

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As part of an annual joint national Hajj and Umrah Fraud campaign run by trading standards and police, officers visited the premises of S M Travel Limited on on 19 July 2018.

Customers were complaining at the premises about airline tickets which had been cancelled or never issued.

Documentation at the premises were seized for further investigation.

In August 2018, S M Travel Limited started the process of voluntary liquidation as it owed £90,623. £76,826 of that was owed to customers who had booked tickets/packages with them

The company was dissolved on 22 August 2019

The victims, some of whom were either very ill or elderly, lost amounts ranging between £760 to £3835.

4 years on Kyani has made no attempt to repay people the money that she effectively stole from.

Kiran Seyan, Trading Standards and Licensing Compliance Team Leader at Ealing Council said "This was a long complex investigation and I welcome the sentence of Abida Khatoon Kyani, which sends out a clear message to other dishonest traders that such unscrupulous business practices will not be tolerated in the Borough of Ealing and we will not hesitate to prosecute."

Mohammed Tariq, the council’s senior trading standards officer led the investigation. He said "Many of these vulnerable victims, who trusted Ms Kyani to provide flights, suffered emotionally as well as financially from the difficulties that arose from this fraudulent and dishonest trading."

"It is important that consumers conduct their own research into travel companies that they are thinking of using and make sure they are members of ABTA and are ATOL protected by checking online."

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, Ealing Council’s cabinet member for decent living incomes, said: "We have pledged to get tough on fraudsters who take advantage of consumers."

"These actions by our officers have sent a warning to those who might try to profit by defrauding our residents and consumers."