A FIRM associated with an Internet holiday club may be shut down by the Department of Trade and Industry.

A petition to wind up Holiday Direct -- more recently known as Vacations Direct -- has been presented to the High Court by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

The company promoted and ran an Internet holiday club called The Travel Association.

One of its business addresses was in Back Silver Street, Bury. There were others in Ellesmere Port, Cambridge and Ireland.

It followed an investigation by the DTI's Companies Investigation Branch under section 447 of the Companies Act 1985 which enables investigators to require a firm to produce its records.