“It makes good sense to regularly cleanse our databases of redundant records – if we didn’t do this the systems would become overloaded. But some cases have been deleted without the final review we normally give.”The Revenue said that there was only a “narrow range” of people affected, but admits that it does not know how many.Richard Bacon, a Conservative MP, believes hundreds of thousands of people have had their tax records trashed. He has called the Revenue sloppy and has demanded an official investigation into the debacle.But the spokesman for the Revenue said that the error was a one-off glitch that would not happen again, and it was now in the process of recovering the information that had been deleted. Records from the 2003/04 tax year hadbeen recovered, and the Revenue said that it was confident it would restore all the lost data.It also insisted that it would not be asking individuals for more money if they were found to have underpaid their tax bill. The Inland Revenue faced calls for an inquiry into its “sloppy” procedures yesterday after it emerged that it had accidentally deleted the tax records of potentially thousands of people.
The Revenue has admitted that a technical glitch led to Pay As You Earn files dating back to 2001 being deleted from its systems. Five years later, Sir Henry Lunn founded his tour company, which chartered the first holiday flight in 1931.

The two groups merged in 1965 – the same year Thomson Holiday was created.. The group plans to trim its estate as shop leases expire, however, rather than through a major closure programme.The group intends to rebrand the shops next month, finishing in time for the post-Christmas booking frenzy. It is also rebranding its websites, call centres and television channel.Mr Rothwell added: “We want people to have a clear understanding that Thomson caters for all their travel needs, whether it’s a one-way flight to Malaga or a five-star tailor-made trip to Australia.”The Lunn Poly name dates back to 1888 when Poly Tours was founded to provide cheap foreign holidays for students at London’s Regent Street Polytechnic. The Lunn Poly moniker will vanish from almost 800 high street travel agents, which will be rebranded Thomson. The move follows TUI’s recent decision to jettison its Britannia Airways brand in favour of Thomsonfly.Peter Rothwell, who runs TUI’s UK business, said: “Although Thomson is regarded as the most trusted brand in travel, we need to do all we can to keep public awareness ahead of our competitors, especially since so many new players have entered the UK market over the past few years. It makes much more sense from a marketing point of view to put money behind promoting a single brand.”TUI is likely to axe more of its 16 holiday brands in the UK, which span Magic Travel, Austravel, Portland and Crystal Ski A spokeswoman said “We are conducting a major review of the business.

The cull will affect all parts of its business, from travel agents to its charter airline. It also axed five senior executive posts, in a desperate attempt to become more competitive.Eventually, its network of 780 high street travel agents is likely to vanish, as more and more customers construct their own holiday packages via the internet. It may be that we don’t keep all the brands.”Last month, TUI said it was cutting 800 jobs in the UK and scrapping holiday reps at some of its cheaper resorts. The German travel giant that bought Thomson Travel four years ago is casting aside more than a century of history and ditching the Lunn Poly holiday brand.

Passenger traffic rose 7.5 per cent while retail revenues were up by 9 per cent.. The figures surprised many industry observers.Handsets made by LG, the Korean electronics giant, are proving particularly popular among 3’s new customers. One of the biggest costs that 3G operators face are the subsidies they are forced to pay to get cheap mobile phones into the hands of consumers through retailers such as Carphone Warehouse.Although Carphone Warehouse is predicting a bumper Christmas for mobile phone sales this year, it is not expecting 3G sales to be high This view has been echoed by Vodafone, Orange and mmO2.. However, analysts have expressed concern at 3’s business model, which they say is buying market share at the cost of a profitable and sustainable business in the future. The airports operator BAA is close to settling its long-running dispute with the Star Alliance group of airlines over facilities at London’s Heathrow airport. Early 2004 also saw the launch of 3’s first pre-paid phone tariffs.The group has promised to break-even at the Ebitda level next year, financial 2005, though it will no longer enjoy the technological advantage of being the UK’s only 3G network, with Vodafone set to launch a 3G-enabled version of its Vodafone Live! mobile entertainment service next week.During the summer, the company announced it had broken through the 1 million subscriber level, revealing a customer base of 1.2 million with growth continuing to accelerate. This figure includes: £106m for staff costs; a £201m write-down on the value of the company’s 3G spectrum licence, which now stands at £4.28bn; and £105m for depreciation on fixed assets, including the cost of the network – which had cost a total of £1.33bn to build, by the end of 2003.The group, whose debts had mushroomed to £2.4bn by the end of 2003, also paid £132m in interest It achieved a turnover of £92m for 2003.