HOLIDAYMAKERS from the district who are currently abroad on Monarch holidays have been threatened with being kicked out of their hotel unless they pay hundreds of pounds following the collapse of the airline.

Members of a Bradford family, who are currently on holiday in Turkey, were called to an emergency meeting by their hotel manager telling them they had to pay £1,500 or face being asked to leave the hotel.

However, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has told tourists not to pay anything to the hotels, as their holidays are ATOL-protected, which means the CAA will cover the costs.

Paula Allinson, who lives in Queensbury and works in advertising at the Telegraph & Argus, flew from Leeds Bradford to Dalaman in Turkey on an all-inclusive Monarch holiday on Saturday with her family, and is due to return on October 14.

Mrs Allinson said she was called to the meeting and asked to pay £1,500, but refused and has been speaking to the CAA to try and reach a solution.

She said: “We had a meeting with the manager to explain the situation.

“He told us that, as of then, our all-inclusive rights had stopped and we would have to pay them direct or leave.

“There are a lot of older people at our hotel who were getting stressed by the situation, and some of them paid the £1,500, which is a lot of money.

“The hotel manager told us the way it works is they don’t get any money until the customer has left, and then they send an invoice to the tour operator for the amount, but obviously Monarch have gone bust.

“By asking for £1,500 they are trying to frighten people into paying. I do get it from their point of view as they need to get paid but its not helpful when you are here. We just want to know where we stand.”

A spokesman for the CAA said holidaymakers do not have to pay anything extra for their holidays.

He said: “This should not be happening. Unfortunately some hotel owners do not understand ATOL will cover the bill even though Monarch have ceased trading.

“ATOL will step in and cover the costs, and we are in the process of contacting hotels and customers to tell them.

“This seems to particularly be a problem in places like Turkey where there is a lack of understanding about ATOL, but we will be sorting out the situation as quickly as possible.”

An ATOL - Air Travel Organiser’s Licence - is a legal requirement for every UK travel company which sells air holidays and flights.

If a travel company with an ATOL ceases trading, the ATOL scheme protects customers who had booked holidays with the firm.

It ensures they do not get stranded abroad or lose money.

People who have had holidays in the future cancelled which were ATOL-protected are required to fill in a claim form to receive a full refund. On Monday, almost 12,000 Brits were brought home from their holidays by the CAA on 61 flights from 24 destinations. The CAA’s dedicated website received more than 700,000 unique visitors and its call centre received some 13,000 calls.

Yesterday, four replacement flights - from Faro, Palma, Tenerife and Alicante - brought passengers back to Leeds Bradford, although the Alicante flight was transferred to Manchester.

Today, flights have been chartered from Larnaca, Dalaman, Malaga and Faro to Leeds Bradford, but the Faro flight has been changed to arrive at London Gatwick.

Transfers from Gatwick and Manchester to Leeds Bradford are provided by the CAA.

As a result of Monarch’s collapse, more than 1,800 people have been made redundant. Less than 250 members of staff remain at Monarch, assisting administrators, and helping the CAA with the repatriation of customers currently overseas.

Joint Administrator Blair Nimmo said, “We know that Monday was been a very sad and difficult day for the Monarch employees.

“Regrettably, with the business no longer able to fly, a significant number of redundancies were made.”

At Leeds Bradford, Monarch employed a team of 60 people. Customers who booked with Monarch can ring the dedicatied helpline on 0300 303 2800 for help and information.