index

Farepak YouTube Videos

Check out the following links below for Farepak Victims Committee video filmed on Sunday morning 21st October 2007.

Farepak 1 year on (Part 1)

Farepak 1 year on (Part 2)

Farepak 1 year on (Third and final part)

Also check out Farepak segment of the BBC Daily Politics Show where FVC Chair Louise McDaid was Interviewed.

Farepak on The Daily Politics

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE - BLAME THE VICTIMS!

Following our report and the Farepak Victims Committee (FVC) statement on the recent collapse of First Solution Money Transfer Ltd, (original circular can now be viewed on e-Socialist News on the National  website), we publish below an announcement issued via the London Stock Exchange on 25th July 2007, followed by the FVC response.

London Stock Exchange Announcement.  25th July 2007.

Save Xmas Campaign Launched in Scotland.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to launch a campaign in order to help consumers afford Christmas.

This follows last year's collapse of Farepak, which led to 31,000 consumers missing out on their annual hamper without receiving recompense.

As part of the scheme, radio and poster advertising will be used, while leaflets, presentations and research findings will also aid promotion.

And Kyla Brand, spokesperson for the OFT in Scotland, commented that the agency is looking to increase savings awareness as the holiday season approaches.

"The OFT is committed to working with such groups on the ground to increase knowledge and skills about savings, not only for this Christmas but for many more to come," she said.

Farepak went into administration on October 13th 2006, after operating since 1981 and reporting a £70 million turnover for 2004.

A five-hour protest followed at the company's gates four days later.

FVC Response:

Too Little Too Late …

The government today announced the launching of a “Save Xmas campaign” to “to increase knowledge and skills about savings” among “consumers”. The campaign is in response to the collapse of the Farepak savings last autumn. Welcome as this weak and belated initiative may be to some the reality is that of all the people in society potentially in need of such advice, Farepak Victims do not number among them! The reason working class women saved with Farepak - and it was overwhelmingly women – was precisely down to their “knowledge and skills in savings”. The ill-informed people it turns out were government and its financial apparatus that failed to recognise the need and necessity to regulate organisations such as Farepak. They clearly still have not learnt this most basic lesson as witnessed by the collapse and subsequent legalised theft of those who put their trust in the money transfer company First Solution! Unregulated, of course, as was Farepak. This initiative by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) does not even wash the filthy face of this government and is tantamount to apportioning the blame onto the Farepak Victims themselves. Incidentally, for the OFT’s information, its late July … the end of the seventh month of the year! Working class families who saved with Farepak began saving in the December of the year prior to the Xmas the money was for. We’re sure this is not exclusive to savings clubs and therefore most will have amassed more than half their savings by this time!

This campaign is:- Too Little Too Late!

Louise McDaid,

Chairperson,

Farepak Victims Committee.

26^th July 2007.

FAREPAK VICTIMS COMMITTEE PRESS RELEASE

The Farepak Victims Committee (FVC) has called for a Public Inquiry into the collapse of Farepak.

The Administrator's Report is not complete.

Farepak Victims know what happened to their money. The parent company, European Home Retail stole the money to pay off HBOS.

The owners of European Home Retail, rather than take personal responsibility for their failed business ventures, took legal advice and were told that they could empty Farepak's bank account. The Millionaire Directors and the £Billion Bank got their money while 150,000 Farepak Victims were left to depend on a charity fund.

What Farepak Victims need to know is why this was allowed to happen? The question is whether we will ever find out?

Included in the Administrator's Report is the following statement: "to investigate the conduct of the directors and send a report to the Department of Trade and Industry ("DTI"). By Law, the submission that I (Martha H. Thompson, Joint Administrator of BDO Stoy Hayward) make to the DTI is not made public". Therefore we have not been told the complete story and consequently Government Ministers can cherry pick the information made available to the Farepak Victims. A Government that the Farepak Victims Committee believe share responsibility for the collapse as they neglected to regulate the hamper/voucher industry.

Also the DTI's, Companies Investigation Branch, will also conduct a CONFIDENTIAL Investigation. At no stage in this investigation have the Farepak Victims been able to have their say - the only chance we would have had was at a Creditor's Meeting but this was stopped from happening by the Administrators because of the numbers involved.

Louise McDaid, Chair of the FVC said "Only a Public Inquiry into the events leading to the Farepak collapse can fully satisfy the demand for a full, fair and open investigation and ensure that regulations are put in place to forestall the possibility of such a scenario happening again".

Ends.

For further comment please contact Louise McDaid, Chair, FVC

Tel:- (01294) 829688