Thousands of British ski reps face losing their jobs (Picture: AFP)

Thousands of British ski reps face losing their jobs after being banned by a court from offering tours of the slopes in France.

They were told they were breaking the law by showing tourists around the resorts because they were not qualified to French standards.

British ski companies say they suspect it is more about keeping jobs in France for the French, while the French skiing authorities insist it is a health and safety issue.

British skiers are threatening a boycott if the ban is enforced. Richard Critchlow told the PlanetSKI website: ‘As a parent of a then six-year-old child that a French instructor lost on a mountain I find it laughable that they now preach on safety.’


Ski operators claim reps do little more than introduce Brits to their resort (Picture: AFP)

Ski operators claim that their reps offer no instruction and do little more than introduce Britons to their resorts, point out good restaurants and tell them how to avoid long queues.



But a legal challenge was brought against Yorkshire-based Le Ski after one of its staff was stopped and questioned by police while running a tour.

The fight was taken up by the French ski school Ecole du Ski Francais which has won the backing of judges in the Alpine town of Albertville.

French ski school Ecole du Ski Francais supported the case (Picture: AFP)

The ruling threatens the jobs of an estimated 5,000 Britons and comes after the newspaper Liberation ran a headline: ‘Europe: After the Polish plumber, the English ski instructor’.

Le Ski founder Nick Morgan said the ESF had a ‘protectionist agenda’ but the case would go to appeal.

The ESF said it had not brought the case but it had ‘rightly shown its support for French law to be upheld’.