Farepak customers to recoup 15%

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Victims of the Farepak Christmas saving scheme collapse will start receiving shopping vouchers next week as the £6.3m compensation fund is distributed.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry, they can expect to get about 15p for every pound they saved.

Distributed by Farepak agents, the vouchers are redeemable at 75 stores including Boots, Woolworths and Argos.

About 150,000 people are estimated to have lost a total of up to £50m when the firm went bust.

Nude calendar

The company that is distributing the compensation fund, Christmas savings and gift voucher company Park Group, said it hoped to complete the hand-out by 18 December.

Some time next year, administrators who took over the running of the firm after its collapse expect to pay victims a further 4p or 5p for every £1 saved.

In a statement, the DTI said banks were expecting to refund an extra £4m to Farepak customers who had paid via credit or Visa debit card.

It added that most customers who had ordered a Farepak hamper should get one, as long as it could find a logistics company willing to help distribute them.

A number of other initiatives to raise money for Farepak victims are still continuing.

These include a fund set up by the MP for Workington and a nude calendar inspired by the film Calendar Girls.