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Farepak

I agree, and I shall address that point a little later. My constituent and others were told by Farepak that there was no problem with the vouchers and not to worry, when everyone knew that it was all going wrong. On 30 June, the company announced that it would run out of money by the autumn unless funds could be borrowed. That followed the collapse of Choice Gift Vouchers, the voucher company that Farepak used, which led retailers to demand that companies such as Farepak pay for their vouchers up front, when before they had been allowed credit. On 23 August, Halifax Bank of Scotland said that it would lend no more money to Farepak, because the company was beyond saving. Farepak was a subsidiary of European Home Retail, which included Kleeneze and other companies. An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph into Farepak’s accounts revealed that millions of pounds were regularly transferred between Farepak and European Home Retail. It was said that Farepak money was used to pay off the overdraft with HBOS.