p44 biztrav sep12 8/9/08 14:46 Page 44
Business travel
Martin Ferguson
020 7921 8011
maferguson@ttgbusiness.com
Keep up with the latest business travel news at ttgbusiness.com
FCm agrees deal
with Travelport
Tzell UK hits £1m turnover
FCm Travel and its global network partners TZELL UK has turned over its first “The growth of homeworking in
have signed a new deal with travel technology £1 million after only six months in the leisure sector demonstrates there
company Travelport. business. are many independent-minded agents
The “dual preferred agreement” means The travel management company – who are entrepreneurial and want to
FCm and its international travel management a wholly owned subsidiary of US- take charge of their destiny,” he said.
partners will share access to all contracted based Tzell Travel Group, the fourth- Whittaker likened the strategy to that
Travelport products. largest TMC in North America – of Travel Counsellors, the homeworking
Anthony Grigson, FCm’s global executive opened its first UK office in London in agency for which he used to work.
general manager, said many of the companies in the spring. “Agents will be running their own businesses
its network used Travelport global distribution There had been concerns that the economic as sole traders but with the full resource of the
systems Galileo and Worldspan (used globally) slowdown would hamper the company’s initial Tzell Travel Group supporting them.”
and Apollo (used mainly in the US). success. Whittaker added that independents could also
He said: “This agreement gives our partners But Tzell UK managing director Barry sign with Tzell UK as an “overbrand”.
greater choice as well as commercial, content Whittaker (pictured) said the group was already “Members are required to hit minimum sales
and technology benefits.” well placed to implement expansion plans. targets but are free to operate out of home
“During the first months we have demonstrated office or business premises. We provide the
‘Firms liable for
that you have to work even harder during hardware and support and they are backed by
difficult times. You can’t wait for business to our considerable market strength. The set-up
come to you.” process is quick and simple.”
deaths abroad’
He said the intention was to replicate the com- The TMC specialises in medical repatriation for
pany’s business model in the US by recruiting insurance companies and provides a VIP service
BRITISH companies could be found guilty for the homeworkers and independent agencies. for the music, film and fashion industries.
deaths of employees outside of UK territory, a
leading travel and leisure lawyer has claimed.
Since the Corporate Manslaughter Act
(Corporate Homicide in Scotland) was introduced
on April 6 legal experts and company directors
have been uncertain about how to interpret it.
The act states that an organisation is culpable
only when the “harm” is caused in UK territory.
Some analysts insist this means an
organisation can be culpable only if the death
of the traveller is on British soil.
But travel management companies were
concerned they could potentially be prosecuted
if a traveller working for a client was killed while
on business travel.
Cynthia Barber, a partner with law firm
KL Gates, said a jury could interpret “harm” to
be a decision made on UK soil, as opposed to the
incident directly leading to a death.
“If a company director in the UK ignored
advice from a reliable source warning that
employees were in danger abroad there would
be grounds to prosecute as arguably the harm
was caused in the UK,” she told delegates at an
Association of Corporate Travel Executive forum T5 IS THE BUSINESS: British Airways has introduced a dedicated business-class check-in
in London last week. area in Terminal 5. BA still wants customers to check in online, but the business-class
The law applies to any organisation found area, located in Zone H, will have check-in kiosks, baggage drop facilities and customer
guilty of gross negligence in its duty of care. service desks. The airline is moving 30 long-haul flights to T5 on September 17.
44 12.09.2008
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