A COLLAPSED holiday firm has been bought by its former managers.

Travelscope, a Gloucester-based travel company, went into administration just before Christmas last year, stranding more than 45,000 holidaymakers.

It has now been bought by new travel firm, Phoenix Holidays.

Phoenix Holidays has been set up by Darren Parrid and Anu Desai, former managers of Travelscope.

The company will specialise in coach holidays, river cruises and escorted flight holidays.

Paul Clark, joint administrator for Travelscope, said: "I am delighted to have completed this sale with Phoenix Holidays. Everyone has worked extremely hard and tirelessly towards realising a satisfactory sale of assets."

Mr Parris said: "This announcement means that a large number of Travelscope passengers who have booked a coach holiday or a river cruise can have their holidays fulfilled, and these passengers can look forward to their holiday with renewed peace of mind."

Mr Parris went on to say that passengers may transfer their holiday to Phoenix Holidays by simply assigning their ABTA claim to Phoenix Holidays with no extra cost to the holiday.

Alternatively, passengers can obtain a refund from ABTA by emailing abtaclaims@cegagroup.com.

However, Phoenix Holidays will not be offering refunds on holidays by air and anyone who booked a flight with Travelscope will need to complete a claim form through the Civil Aviation Authority at www.caa.co.uk.

To contact Phoenix Holidays call 08444 12 99 00 or email enquiries@phoenixholidays.co.uk.