THE Adver is putting together a dossier of complaints from Farepak victims to hand to South Swindon MP Anne Snelgrove for a parliamentary debate.

Mrs Snelgrove has applied for a special debate on November 7 and has promised to air all the problems faced by residents caught up in the Christmas hamper fiasco.

Mrs Snelgrove said she would take any information on the crisis to Parliament.

"I'm going to be talking to local people," Mrs Snelgrove said.

"I would like to talk to people in connection with their experience of working for the company.

"I intend to investigate this fully."

The Adver is determined to keep up the pressure until we get answers to what went wrong.

We want to hear from anyone who has suffered in the company tangle or information about what happened.

The promise of a debate comes as Consumer Minister Ian McCartney works on a deal for retailers to chip in to help Farepak victims.

Mr McCartney met Farepak administrators and British Retail Consortium representatives over the weekend.

BRC spokesman Richard Dodd said there was "no obligation" for retailers to help but they wanted to as a gesture of good faith.

"We said on behalf of members and some other retailers we're working to make some sort of goodwill gesture but we aren't sure what that will be," Mr Dodd said.

"Over the next week, they will be detailing some sort of scheme.

"Whatever scheme they come up with has to be simple and put in place quickly.

"What it will not amount to will be people having all their losses made up.

"It isn't going to amount to other retailers providing everything those customers would have got but at the moment they wouldn't have got anything."

Hundreds of customers and agents have been left facing a bleak Christmas after the announcement last week that Farepak has gone bust. It came 18 months after the company announced profits of £1.2m while its parent company European Home Retail announced profits of more than £4m.

The Hamper Industry Association set up to monitor the standards and services provided by agents and customers by its members has told the Adver that European Home Retail announced on June 30 that it would run out of existing funds by autumn this year.

But the association said that the company's directors, who include managing director Nicholas Gilodi-Johnson, gave assurances that funding would be found and it would honour its liabilities.

But on August 23, European Home Retail announced trading in its shares had been suspended on the stock exchange.

Administrators BDO Stoy Hayward were then called in on October 13 to deal with the Westlea-based company's liquidation.

  • Read more about the Farepak Fiasco and the campaign for compensation. Read others' stories, tell us your own and help fill our Christmas Hamper full of messages for the directors.