Ryedale Travel sold as managing director, Phil Cornelius, retires

The company, which was based in Helmsley, will continue to trade from its branches in Thirsk, Malton, Pickering, Pocklington and Ripon which will be rebranded as Hays Travel.

The Helmsley shop has been closed because it was too small and its staff will move to the Pocklington branch.

All the company’s sales staff have transferred to Hays Travel, while the administration function, which used to employ two people in North Yorkshire, has been taken in-house in Sunderland.

Mr Cornelius, who is 62, said the five shareholders decided to sell because they had no successor within the business.

“We decided the best way forward for everyone was to sell the company to Hays, which is a good reputable outfit that will look after the staff and customers,” he said.

Mr Cornelius said one factor in deciding his retirement was “mindless bureaucracy”.

He explained: “Governments make all these daft decisions about ash clouds and accept no responsibility for their actions. We’re expected to pick up the tab on anything and everything that happens and I got tired of fighting it, really.”

He said that the business, which has been a finalist in almost every one of The Press Business Awards since they launched in 1997, winning the top prize three times, was not in financial trouble and was actually 15 per cent up at its year end in April.

Instead of completely retiring, he said he wants to concentrate on his photography business PhilCornelius.co.uk.

Jane Schumm, sales general manager at Hays Travel, said the move into North Yorkshire formed part of their expansion plans.

“We feel this is a natural progression from our North East branches and last year’s expansion into the North West of England. We now have a foothold in North Yorkshire to anchor the major towns of York and Harrogate.

“Ryedale is a strong local independent agent, operating in a high-spend, long-haul, luxury market; the kind of market that Hays Travel is keen to grow,” she said.