MORE than 500 Scottish football fans who paid for package deals with a travel agent that included tickets for next Wednesday's World Cup opening game involving Scotland and Brazil look set to be disappointed after the firm yesterday admitted that it did not have one brief for the match.
Kelvin Travel, which has offices in Glasgow and Perth, claimed in March that it had a deal for 700 tickets for the Brazil match and the promise of 500 more.
More than 500 people responded to the firm's advertisements and paid almost #350,000 for two-night to six-night packages priced from #599 to #768, which included a match ticket.
Yesterday, Mr Tom Van der Ham, the firm's Dutch managing director, admitted to The Herald: ''I can't say now whether I am going to get all of the tickets promised, or whether indeed I will get any. The tour operator who was supplying me with the packages has been let down by the person who was supposed to supply the tickets.''
He said 320 people had agreed deals with his firm for the two-night air package costing #635, 122 had agreed a four-night air package costing #768, and 70 had opted for a six-night coach package costing #599.
Mr Van der Ham said he believed his firm was the only travel agent in Scotland to lose out in this way although he believes several in England may have been affected.
The Scottish Football Association, which criticised the firm in March for defying strict ticket distribution rules, yesterday said it had little sympathy for fans who were warned about buying World Cup tickets from unauthorised sources.
Concerned fans phoning the travel agents have been told Mr Van Der Ham is still trying to secure tickets for the match. They have also been offered a full refund or the opportunity to travel with him to Paris where he says he will ''try his best'' to secure briefs for the Brazil game.
The managing director of the company, which is registered with the Association of British Travel Agents and was established in 1984, said: ''It is a dreadful situation. We are looking at hundreds of people who could be disappointed. I just have to keep hoping that my people will come up with the tickets we were promised.''
Mr Van der Ham said he was more confident of securing some 300 tickets he promised to fans for Scotland's matches against Morocco and Norway.
Mr David Fulton, a systems operator from Glasgow, who was among 122 people who paid #768 for a four-night package, yesterday described the situation as ''a disgrace''. He said: ''I booked with three friends six weeks ago and was reassured at the time that the package included official tickets. I am a Scotland Travel Club member but lost out on the allocation of tickets for the match.
''I would never have booked with Kelvin Travel if I had known the tickets were not from an official outlet. We haven't cancelled yet but there is no way we will accept the company's offer to travel without a ticket. All they are doing is trying to fill the plane seats they have booked.''
SFA press officer Andy Mitchell said: ''We have made it clear to people on numerous occasions not to buy tickets from unauthorised sources. If they have chosen to go down this route and have lost out, then we can hardly have sympathy with their position.''
He said the SFA was unhappy with the concept of unauthorised sources providing tickets because of the security implications, and added: ''We would not be surprised if this story is repeated elsewhere.''
An Abta spokeswoman said that Kelvin Travel had not acted illegally. She said anyone who was unable to obtain tickets after agreeing to buy a World Cup package from the firm should be entitled to a full refund because of the ''significant alteration'' which could result.
''The advice from Abta has always been to buy tickets through the officially authorised ticket sources in the UK, of which there were only two.''
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