Pirie, through his It’s Right to Refund campaign, has written to transport secretary Grant Shapps to "remind him and the government of their obligations under the PTRs and the risks of judicial review if these are contravened".

Abta is lobbying the government to amend the PTRs to remove the requirement to pay refunds for cancellations within 14 days and allow travel sellers to instead issue protected refund credit notes to the value of the booking to preserve liquidity and cash flow.

These can be used to book a new trip, or they can be exchanged for a full refund at a later date. Abta told TTG on Monday (20 April) it was "hopeful" the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy would outline relief for the sector this week.

The association has previously warned any failure to support the sector could end up leaving the government with a bill for up to £4.5 billion; result in thousands of redundancies; and risk placing extreme pressures on the Air Travel Trust Fund, which has already been depleted by the collapse of Thomas Cook.

However, Pirie said Abta’s proposals risk opening a Pandora’s box, which could see some customers left waiting until 2021 before receiving their money back.

"We trust government will recognise such a delay is unnecessary and unfair, and will exacerbate the financial distress of many members of the public," he said.

"To go ahead with the Abta proposals, which contain no fixed end-date for repayment, would be a kick in the teeth to the British public who have sacrificed a great deal to support the ‘lockdown’, whatever the financial cost."

Pirie said the "obvious and better alternative" was a short grace period, akin to that introduced for MOTs last month allowing drivers to continue using their vehicles even if their MOT has expired, rather than wholesale changes to the legislation.

Addressing Shapps, Pirie added: "We beg you to change course and warn that aside from the legal rights, which we reserve in full, you should not underestimate the great British public."