'Action Stations' ceased trading?

IF they have continued trading whilst knowingly insolvent that is potentially illegal as well as wrong.

“The key points to remember are if your company is insolvent, the directors have to take care. Under UK law, trading whilst insolvent can breach several provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986 which may have the effect of making directors of a company personally liable to contribute to the assets of a company.

The main provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986 that you should be aware of are:

Wrongful trading – Section 214 Insolvency Act 1986:

Transaction at an undervalue – Section 238 Insolvency Act 1986

Preference – Section 239 Insolvency Act 1986 (Unfair Preferences in Scotland s243)

If the company IS insolvent and if the board of the company continues to trade whilst it is insolvent, the directors of the company may become personally liable to contribute to the company’s assets and help meet the deficit to unsecured creditors if the company’s financial position is made worse by the directors continuing to trade, instead of putting the company immediately into liquidation.”

The moral way to trade is for payments made in advance to he held outside your normal operating account so that in the event of problems then the funds can be refunded. However most companies use their customers funds to support their working capital for normal trading. Others such as supermarkets delay paying suppliers and that effectively does the same thing. At the end of the day the ordinary people are the ones that pay for company failures by loss of goods, lack of payment, loss of jobs and addtional costs. Thats one of the reasons why credit cards cost so much. The losses incurred due to bad debts, claims such as the above and costs are spread around and are met by the “good” payers. Its a very fine line between overall profit and loss for a Bank/Credit Card Issuer. Again at the end of the day its the shareholders that pay for any losses in the dividend (if any) and the value of their stock. The Card Issuers with a larger number of potential losses will have a higher Interest Rate (APR). People may not like “Banks” but most people would be unable to manage without the assistance they provide. A basic principle I was taught many years ago was “Dont borrow unless you have the means to repay”. Another that people forget is to only borrow for an appropiate time scale matching your repayments to the value of the item. For example buying a second hand car dont have a loan longer than 3 years. Going on holiday next year then pay off the loan before you travel. Normal purchases should be paid off by your next pay day.

Yes, the law is on their side, but morally they’re questionable at best.
There is sometimes a difference between being legal and being right.

They say to take it up with your credit card firm, something people will do because no one likes banks/credit card firms and it’s easy to rationalize getting money from them
(Similar to the rationalization shoplifters use when taking items…”They can afford it”.)
Basically, a firm is trying to shift their financial responsibility onto that third party.

Spoke to Chris from Action Stations today, regrettably it is true, and they have gone into receivership. He advised me to try to get the money I paid for the Silver Experience flight back through my credit card company, as there was nothing to expect from the receivers. Big bummer that! My wife booked this for me as birthday present in January last year, and I am not holding my breath what our bank back home in Australia is going to say to that.

Ahh well, I’ll have to wait till my MK25 is ready next year till I fly with/in a Spitfire, even if it is just a lookalike. **** happens…

Was this the company that, a year or two back, suggested they would be offering “Fly With A Mossie” experiences?

On all occasions all of the passengers clapped on arrival.

Just thankful to be back on the ground? 🙂

I’ve had a Classic Wings Rapide flight from Duxford and enjoyed it very much.
And I agree with Moggy, to spend the entire flight taking photos would be to miss out on the overall experience.
If you want nice shots of a Spitfire in flight, buy a magazine…they’ll be a hundred times better than anything you’ll take (unless you’re a pro with the proper equipment and a bit of luck with weather, light etc.) and you’ll enjoy the flight.

#12 Seems a case of having the punter over!

.. many wish for the experience of flying side-by-side with a Spitfire with photography, perhaps, just a secondary consideration?

Having experienced this I’d suggest that many onboard the Rapide do spend their entire time with their eyes fixed inside a tiny viewfinder, observing a memorable and beautiful event as if on a minute television set.

The net result is some sub-John Dibbs air-to-air shots for their hard drive.

But each to their own.

Classic Wings now offer the real thing from Duxford. A flight in a Spitfire. Currently well outside my price bracket.

Moggy

I would love to fly in a Dragon Rapide and also it would be made better if a Spitfire flew alongside. It is on my wish list when I finally get a visit to Duxford from Scotland. Sad to read about Action stations ceasing.

I came across this yesterday.

“I booked this back in January 2013 for my husband birthday, they cancelled every event we were booked on. I requested a refund on numerous occasions and was told, by Stephen Burt no refund until the 4th cancellation, they 4th cancellation was in July. I again asked for the refund and told couldn’t processed as was very busy with other cancellations but would deal with it in August, I chased in August and was told the chq would be out to me on 17th August 2015, I emailed this morning to ask if the chq had been processed. Then Stephen Burt, Managing Director and owner of the company called me to say they had gone into Liquidation and could not refund any money paid and to go to my bank for refund or contact the liquidators..”

So, does anybody have any hard information on Action Stations ceasing business, before we drift off-topic? I have paid for a Silver Experience with them, but won’t be able to take the flight till next summer, as I am in Australia and this years date that I could have made was cancelled on short notice while I was in the UK (bummer). I have not received an email from them, but will give them a call tomorrow after the bank holiday…

Chris

Am sorry to hear about your negative experience with a Rapide as a camera ship. I have been fortunate to fly a few of the Rapide / Spitfire Sorties. We have a clear brief and debrief on how things are planned and how they might be improved. On all occasions all of the passengers clapped on arrival. Whilst the Rapide may not be the best for air to air photography its speed range is just within that of the Spitfire and the manoeuvring around that the Spitfire does ensures everybody on board (including the pilot!) is left with a remarkable memory. There is a large WOW factor at flying in close formation with a Spitfire, which i think makes up for the deficiencies that the Rapide might have. The photos i have seen from some of the passengers have also been pretty good too. Perhaps not up to professional standards, but still pretty good. We also fly the Harvard in formation with the Spitfire which gives a much clearer view and is less restrictive in terms of its speed, more restrictive in terms of money though!

Whilst I cannot comment on the suitability or otherwise of a Rapide as a camera-ship, the fact of the matter is that many wish for the experience of flying side-by-side with a Spitfire with photography, perhaps, just a secondary consideration? In any event, many of those availing themselves of the opportunity are doubtless not ‘photographers’ per se.

I don’t think I could think of a worse camera ship than a Rapide if I spent a year trying (and yes, I have used one as such)

Classic Wings, however, also offer a comparable experience whilst flying in a historic aircraft cheek-by-jowl with a Spitfire from Duxford.

A short feature in the next issue of Britain at War magazine on this.

Not sure about Goodwood cornering the market Turbi, Aero Legends seem to be really established now and seem to be doing a great job. I’ve looked at their website and they have a great range of products. I’ve booked my flight for next year and they are really nice people, I was offered a choice of two locations to fly from and nothing was too much trouble for them. Really looking forward to my flight at Sywell.

I wonder if Aero Legends will actually get to up to a standard where they could offer the kind of quality that the Goodwood operation has, I guess most people are going there. I think Goodwood are corning a lot of the business in the south-east.

If true, I always thought this was short lived expedition that would make money up to the point tha CAA enabled actual flights in a spit., Aero Legends out to Headcorn seem to be able to offer this and much more. Did this company not find it tough last year with mech problems of the helicopter?

Quick company check of A4A Ltd (action stations are a subsidiary) and they didn’t have much in the bakn at last account submission £579 with net worth -180k.

Website not showing anything yet;
http://goactionstations.co.uk

🙁