Booking firm sued for FlyGlobeSpan collapse

Administrators that are handling the closure of the Scottish carrier FlyGlobeSpan are looking at suing the firm that handled all their online booking payments. E-Clear, who look after credit card payments for many low-cost airlines, are thought to have held back payments to the airline that were worth millions of pounds, in affect contributing to the cash-flow problem of the airline. The legal action is apparently asking the Cypriot based firm to show that they have the estimated £35 million owed to FlyGlobSpan or face going into administration themselves.

The British Government has been asked to investigate the role of E-Clear after a spokesman for the finance secretary, John Swinney, criticised the credit card firm of not co-operating with administrators as they should. He went on to say that the fact the administrators have had to make a court action shows E-Clear are not fully co-operating with them.

The collapse of the airline last month left more than 500 people jobless coming up to Christmas and many holidaymakers who left out of pocket after having to pay for flights back home with other airlines and others who did not get to take their holiday at all.

Of the estimated owed money, £20 million is for flights that have already taken place and the further £15 million is for flights and holidays that were due to take place after the carrier collapsed. E-Clear are also facing legal action after the failure of the European airline, SkyEurope, after it went bankrupt last year, apparently owed up to £13 million from the credit firm.