NOW spring is here, many people are buying their annual summer holiday. After weeks of poring over the brochures, discussing the options and making feverish financial calculations, a package is finally selected.

Choosing the yearly break is too important to be rushed. For most of us it is a precious week or two away from the hurly-burly of modern life. It is also one of the biggest expenses of the year.

Kenneth and Anne Walsh from Cawood, near York, thought long and hard before choosing a dream break on the Costa Del Sol. The resort looked to be ideal. It was on the beach, in an area selected by friends and only a short journey from the airport.

Or so the brochure said. But the reality was very different. The couple endured a five-hour bus journey in which they were taken to an hotel in an unpleasant port town many miles from the promised destination. Their holiday was ruined.

Thanks to their determination to see justice done, the company responsible ended up in court. The £3,500 fine handed down to Airtours Holidays Ltd will not be much punishment. But the public exposure of the company's poor service should embarrass it into trying harder in the future.

This court ruling serves as a reminder to holiday firms that their glossy brochures must be accurate. The paying public put all their faith in them. With consumer durables, we can try before we buy; with a holiday all we have before handing over our money are those sun-soaked photographs with the cheerful descriptions.

If these do not tally with the real holiday, the firm involved has effectively misled its customers. And as Mr and Mrs Walsh have proved, the laws exist to penalise such behaviour.

Earlier this week, we printed the York Trading Standards guide to gaining compensation for a holiday from hell. We hope you never need to use it. Keep it safe just in case.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.