In 2006, South Swindon based company Farepak collapsed, leaving well over a hundred thousand savers £37m out of pocket – mostly those on lower incomes who used the Christmas savings scheme to put money aside for food and presents.
In 2006, South Swindon based company Farepak collapsed, leaving well over a hundred thousand savers £37m out of pocket – mostly those on lower incomes who used the Christmas savings scheme to put money aside for food and presents.
Our candidate for the next general election, Anne Snelgrove, was MP at the time and has since campaigned fiercely for savers to be reimbursed fairly. Starting in 2006, she worked closely with the Trade Minister, Ian MacCartney, to establish the ‘Farepak Response Fund’ charity, which led to 17.5p in every £1.00 being reimbursed to savers.
Liquidators today announced that they will pay a further 32p for every £1 lost at the end of next month, taking the total reimbursement up to 49p for every £1 lost. Savers originally expected nothing, so an almost fifty percent reimbursement is a much better outcome than many expected.
Anne said: ‘I am delighted that at long last the Farepak savers will receive more of their money back. However, as it amounts in total to just under half of what they lost I will continue to work with Unfairpak and the other Farepak campaigners to see if we can find more funds for the Farepak savers. I also share the campaigners’ anger at the collapse of the trial last month and call on the Department for Trade to explain its actions, and to bring forward legislation to protect consumers in similar situations.
‘In 2006 I said I wanted to achieve three things: a better Christmas in 2006 for the savers’ families than they were expecting after Farepak collapsed; their money back; and justice for the savers. Through the Farepak appeal, we did our best to give everyone a good Christmas and many companies in Swindon and throughout the country were generous with their gifts. I believe we are only halfway to achieving the last two points and therefore I will work tirelessly with the campaigners to achieve full justice for every Farepak saver.’
You can find out more about the Unfairpak campaign, of which Anne is involved, at www.unfairpak.co.uk.