Holiday couple’s battle for delay compensation

signatures. They were spelled wrongly and the dates didn’t make any sense either.”

Jacky and May, both retired agents for a finance firm, wrote to Recoup Finance in August last year but heard nothing. Then the agent who had contacted Flybe on their behalf demanded £ 25 each from them for the failed claim.

Jacky, who has a daughter and two sons, said: “The agent threatened to pass the matter to debt collectors so I ended up sending a cheque for £50 to get them off my back. Please help.”

Flybe said: “We received two claims from Recoup Finance on behal f of the Firths. Both included signed authorisation and as these were valid claims, payment was made direct to the third party agent, which is normal business practice.

“If they have sti ll not yet received their payment we can only suggest they contact Recoup Finance directly.

“We encourage customers to apply direct via www.flybe.com regarding any EU261 claims which, if applicable, are paid promptly and in full.”

Recoup Finance is listed as active at Companies House but its phone line is unobtainable. There was an application to strike it off the register in October but this was discontinued the following month.

Michael Abbott, of Recoup Finance, said he believed the Firths had signed up during a phone call.

He added: “The company is active, although we’re not processing any flight claims nor any other new business.

“We were unaware we were sti ll holding any unsettled customer claims.

“This is an isolated incident. We have managed to locate the payments from Flybe for a total of £ 430.80 which we intend to send upon receiving the Firths’ banking details.”