A HOLIDAY company has been fined £4,000 after a woman took it to court for selling her a "beach holiday" when the hotel was in fact on top of a 300ft cliff.

Susan Parry, aged 55, of Turton, decided to take action after she returned home from the hotel in Sicily which the firm claimed in its brochure was "on a beach".

Ms Parry said the Kafara hotel was actually a 15 minute walk from the beach -- and an uphill 20-minute walk back.

And after descending the steps to sea level, all Ms Parry found was a sea water pool carved out of the rocks.

Solo's Holidays Limited, of London, pleaded not guilty at Blackburn magistrates court to two charges of contravening a provision of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours regulations of 1992. They were acquitted on the first of these charges, relating to Ms Parry, but convicted on the second which was brought by trading standards.

The company was also found guilty of a charge of knowingly making a false statement as to service. They had denied this charge, which was brought by trading standards.

The company was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.

Ms Parry alerted trading standards to the inaccuracies when she returned from holiday.

Officers applied for a brochure and then viewed Solo's web site several months after Ms Parry first made her complaint. Ms Parry, of Sandybank Road, Turton, said she was attracted to the "sizzling Sicily" holiday because the brochure said it was a beach holiday.

She said: "I arrived after dark, but the next morning I discovered the hotel was high on the cliffs with steps down. At the bottom there wasn't a beach, just some rocks and a sea pool."

Ms Parry described her journey to the sea. She said: "I found I had to go along the car park, then walk down a main road, then down a whole lot of steps, for about 100 metres, to the beach.

"It took 15 minutes to get down and then 20 minutes to come back. Going back up the steps was awful because it was so hot. It spoilt my holiday."

She said she had decided to take court action when Solo's Holidays Limited only offered to give her a £75 discount on another of their holidays when she complained.

Andrew Church-Taylor, who defended the holiday firm at Blackburn magistrtates court, said the company accepted the description in the brochure had not been accurate, but they had relied entirely on information supplied by Sicilian agents who were reputable.

He said that as soon as the disparity was discovered a 'flash' notice was put on the computer system which instructed all booking staff to point out the problem. All clients who had already booked were sent a letter offering them a full refund.

"The company did all it possibly could to rectify the situation," said Mr Church-Taylor.

A HOLIDAY company has been fined £4,000 after a woman took it to court for selling her a "beach holiday" when the hotel was in fact on top of a 300ft cliff.

Susan Parry, aged 55, of Turton, decided to take action after she returned home from the hotel in Sicily which the firm claimed in its brochure was "on a beach".

Ms Parry said the Kafara hotel was actually a 15 minute walk from the beach -- and an uphill 20-minute walk back.

And after descending the steps to sea level, all Ms Parry found was a sea water pool carved out of the rocks.

Solo's Holidays Limited, of London, pleaded not guilty at Blackburn magistrates court to two charges of contravening a provision of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours regulations of 1992. They were acquitted on the first of these charges, relating to Ms Parry, but convicted on the second which was brought by trading standards.

The company was also found guilty of a charge of knowingly making a false statement as to service. They had denied this charge, which was brought by trading standards.

The company was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.

Ms Parry alerted trading standards to the inaccuracies when she returned from holiday.

Officers applied for a brochure and then viewed Solo's web site several months after Ms Parry first made her complaint. Ms Parry, of Sandybank Road, Turton, said she was attracted to the "sizzling Sicily" holiday because the brochure said it was a beach holiday.

She said: "I arrived after dark, but the next morning I discovered the hotel was high on the cliffs with steps down. At the bottom there wasn't a beach, just some rocks and a sea pool."

Ms Parry described her journey to the sea. She said: "I found I had to go along the car park, then walk down a main road, then down a whole lot of steps, for about 100 metres, to the beach.

"It took 15 minutes to get down and then 20 minutes to come back. Going back up the steps was awful because it was so hot. It spoilt my holiday."

Andrew Church-Taylor, who defended the holiday firm at Blackburn magistrtates court, said the company accepted the description in the brochure had not been accurate, but they had relied entirely on information supplied by Sicilian agents who were reputable.

He said that as soon as the disparity was discovered a 'flash' notice was put on the computer system which instructed all booking staff to point out the problem. All clients who had already booked were sent a letter offering them a full refund.

"The company did all it possibly could to rectify the situation," said Mr Church-Taylor. She said she had decided to take court action when Solo's Holidays Limited only offered to give her a £75 discount on another of their holidays when she complained.