It has been announced today that leading leisure entrepreneur John Morphet is to fund a caravan scrappage scheme out of his own pocket to parallel the one that came into action this week to help the car industry. Morphet, Chairman of Pure Leisure Group and owner of a nationwide chain of holiday parks as well as a leading manufacturer of modular homes and holiday lodges is one of the best known figures in this sector, having amassed a fortune that the Sunday Times Rich List estimates at £85 million.

To echo the version for cars, anyone with a caravan over ten years old, on any park in the country, can claim a rebate of £2,000 when purchasing a new caravan or lodge, from any manufacturer, on any of Mr Morphet's parks. The old units for scrapping will be professionally dismantled, with materials such as aluminium, copper and wood recycled and reused. Any hazardous materials will be disposed of in the prescribed manner. This scheme could be worth over £3.5 million to British consumers.

In April, representatives of the £6 billion p.a. caravan industry met with Lord Mandelson and officials from The Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) to ask for assistance in weathering the recession. Already, major caravan manufacturers Atlas and Cosalt have gone to the wall, many thousands of jobs have been lost across the country, and there is still genuine concern that many of the 90,000 jobs left might be at risk.

A helping hand from government along the lines of the scrappage scheme recently introduced to assist the motor industry was mooted. However, BERR's comment was that the car scrappage scheme is based on the aim of 'greening' vehicles on the road. As caravans do not have their own method of propulsion, they are excluded - although motorhomes up to 3.5 tonnes are included.

However, new caravans are substantially greener and safer than old ones, being much better insulated and benefitting from considerably more fuel efficient heating systems. Older caravans often don't meet Health & Safety Executive guidelines on Carbon Monoxide emissions and lack current electrical or gas certificates.

John Morphet commented, “I don't think that the industry can afford to wait for the mandarins at BERR to change their minds so I've decided just to get on and do it myself. There couldn't be a better time to kick start the industry than now, when people are looking for value for money and to holiday in the UK. This, and the hot summer we've been promised, could be just the ticket.”

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Press office contact Ben Samuelson Martin Cranshaw Samuelson Wylie Associates Samuelson Wylie Associates Tel: 01524 590 610 Tel. 01524 590 610 Mob: 07976 442602 Mob: 07766 903911 E-mail: ben@samuelsonwylie.com E-mail : martin@samuelsonwylie.com

Notes to Editors:

Pure Leisure Group, whose headquarters are on the edge of the Lake District, was founded twenty years ago and in addition to the 750 acre Royal Westmoreland resort in the Caribbean, owns the largest timber lodge development in the UK - the Lakeland Leisure Village as well as the Tydd St Giles Golf and Leisure Estate in Cambridgeshire. It also owns Billing Aquadrome and Cogenhoe Mill in Northamptonshire, Bridlington Links in Yorkshire and Hall More, Fell End and The Villa Caravan Parks in Lancashire.