SP Thai Connections Travel Bangkok review: Peter Aldridge of SP Thai Connections Travel Ltd goes underground 1

Peter Aldridge, the owner of SP Thai Connections Travel Ltd in Sukhumvit Soi 11, Bangkok, together with his wife and business partner "Mon", have gone into hiding after their offices were closed last week. Mr Aldridge has since set his mobile to voicemail after the couple vacated their offices last weekend.

Over the course of the week, much has come to light as to the shady practices that were shoring up the running costs of their failing business for quite some time.

The scam they were playing with their customers was to take full payment from them and then "forget" to buy the tickets. Last year, a family of four paid in advance the full return fare to Heathrow. The day before travel, having booked hotels, trains, excursions in advance in the UK, found that the booking had not been made and the money had been "already spent".

Desperately, a further £2, 000 was paid to Mr Aldridge to secure another flight. Since then, over a six month period, he reluctantly returned half of the monies to the customer.

News about the couple have been flying around Bangkok since their departure and we know this has happened to several people at least, from customers to bar owners, with thousands of pounds gone missing. We also learned that two ladies even went to the airport for their trip only to find no tickets waiting for them.

We also know the province they are hiding in and that one Thai lady, with her lawyer, has already reported their actions to the Consumer department at Chaeng Wattana and the immigration office, notifying them of Peter Aldridge's illegal business practices.

We have been led to understand by people that know him that as the business became far less profitable due to the economic downturn, the money was needed to finance not only their business but also Mon's children, who attend expensive private schools in the West.