DEVON County Council is to step in to reimburse Tavistock families following a cancelled ski trip.

The authority announced last Thursday that it would enable Tavistock College to refund the families pending any legal action and negotiations with insurers.

The half-term trip was cancelled when college principal Helen Salmon said there was uncertainty from the tour operator Skiing Europe that a hotel was booked at the destination of Interlaken in Switzerland.

But the Devon company denied the allegation and said 'an excellent hotel was available for the group' of 112 youngsters.

The county council's cabinet member for schools and skills, Christine Channon, said: 'The report I have asked for into the cancellation of the ski trip is still being finalised.

'However, we recognise that students and their families are out of pocket through no fault of their own.

'We are able to make an immediate payment to the college to cover the students' refunds and I believe this is the right course of action to take.

'We will then work with the college to recover this money in due course.'

Parents paid around £800 for their children to go on the trip.

College principal Helen Salmon said: 'We have been working closely with Devon County Council following this very unfortunate and difficult event.

'The college will be carefully reviewing its own procedures and we are working with the county council on its investigation.

'However, the most paramount need was to ensure that our families were reimbursed as soon as possible.'

Tavistock county councillor Debo Sellis said many families were left out of pocket and a lot of students had been saving for a long time to have this special trip.

'The most important thing for them was to get their money back as soon as possible and the county council's swift action means they will not have to wait for this to be dealt with by the insurers and possibly in the courts.'