Thousands of Brits still facing anxious wait to see if they’re stranded after collapse of Lowcostholidays

THOUSANDS of Brit tourists were last night still waiting to find out if they will be stranded abroad after the collapse of Lowcostholidays.

The firm's demise has meant tourists across the globe are battling with hotels demanding thousands in cash owed for bookings.

Chaos comes as the firm is expected to formally liquidate its main holiday business early this week.

Some of the company's smaller assets are expected to go to auction which it is hoped will fetch "a few million pounds".

But around 27,000 furious customers have been left stranded abroad after booking through the firm which in most cases has not paid hotel bills.

Another 110,000 bookings - that could be over 300,000 customers - have lost planned holiday bookings or are being forced to fork out the cash again.

One employee of the firm told The Sun Lowcostholidays had been suffering for a number of years with "several restructures".

It raises questions about chief executive Paul Evans moving the business HQ to Majorca in 2013 - meaning customers were not covered by the ATOL scheme.

Evans, who began his career as a resort manager for Club 18-30, now lives back in Fulham, West London, in a £2million mansion after divorcing his Spanish wife.

One Brit family had even been caught up in the failed coup in Turkey - before discovering their travel firm Lowcostholidays had gone bust.

IT worker Mike Dignan, 40, told how he and his family cowered in their hotel as machine gun fire rang out in the town of Marmaris where President Erdogan was believed to be staying.

After braving the ordeal the dad-of-three,from Rosyth, Scotland, then found Lowcostholidays had gone bust.

He said: ";At the moment we are just waiting to have it confirmed we are getting our flight home."

Social media was deluged over the weekend with customers of the firm slamming its behaviour.

The company had been taking bookings up until the moment it went bust on Friday and was even advertising holiday deals online.

Scott Geere, 23, from Aldershot, discovered he had lost his two-week all inclusive holiday with his girlfriend which he had booked at the start of the year.

He wrote on Facebook: "Words can't describe how gutting this is. No holiday, no refund and now just out of pocket. Cheers Lowcostholidays for ruining our summer."

In a statement on its website the firm expressed "deep regret" and said the business had been "hampered by the recent and ongoing turbulent financial environment."