Police are investigating a Huddersfield travel agent over claims that customers have been defrauded.

Customer Asif Tanvir says he lost almost £1,000 after two flights to Dubai and Pakistan were cancelled the night before he and his wife were due to fly.

Mr Tanvir, who runs a takeaway business in Huddersfield, booked the flights through Atif Hafeez of Atif Tours & Travels Ltd based at St John’s Road at Birkby.

He paid for the tickets in cash - paying £980 - and says he trusted Mr Hafeez as he had booked flights with him on four separate occasions.

Huddersfield businessman Asif Tanvir

But he and his wife Ambreen were left disappointed and angry when they arrived at Manchester Airport on March 11 to be told their Emirates flight tickets had been cancelled the night before.

Mr Tanvir was told that the tickets had been refunded to a credit card.

“I was in shock and my wife was in tears,” he said. “I am a heart patient following a heart attack and my wife has recently had cancer so we don’t need this stress.

“We had to buy two more tickets for £2,000 as we had a hotel in Dubai for five days and were spending two weeks in Pakistan.”

Mr Tanvir has spoken to police and was informed that several other people have made similar allegations.

One alleged victim posted her story anonymously on a local Facebook forum where she claimed she had lost £2,282 over a holiday to Pakistan.

She could not be reached for comment but in her Facebook post earlier this year she claimed her tickets had been fakes.

Mr Tanvir said he had counted Mr Hafeez as a friend and had trusted him.

He said: “I am an honourable and principled man. I knew this man as he had come to my place to eat and I had booked with him four or five times in the past.”

Mr Tanvir, 50, said that Mr Hafeez had been a ‘friend’ on Facebook but it appeared his profile had been removed.

He has tried phoning the travel agent but none of the lines are currently working and the office is no longer open. Another business has taken the property over.

Mr Tanvir is now warning people not to make the same mistake as he did by paying in cash.

“Please don’t pay in cash; pay on a card, even if it costs you more,” he said. “I had used this guy before and he had built up a rapport and trust.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said it was investigating a report relating to fraud by false representation which involved plane tickets which had been purchased and later cancelled.

Police investigations are continuing.