Booking firm is sued for £35m owed to Globespan

Administrators are in the process of taking legal action agasint the company which dealt with online ticket sales for Scotland-based airline Flyglobespan when it collapsed.

The move comes after claims from E-Clear, a Cyprus based company that specializes in credit card services to low-cost carriers, contributed to the collapse of the airline’s cashflow problems by withholding payments worth millions of pounds.

It is believed that the legal application requests E-Clear is put into administration unless it can prove it has an estimated £35 million reportedly owed to the airline.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has called on the UK government to launch an inquiry into the collapse of the airline and a spokesman for Finance Secretary John Swinney critcised the role of E-Clear.

The spokesman said the fact the administrator has taken this action suggests a lack of co-operation on the part of E-Clear. This is intolerable, as many people have lost their jobs or face financial hardship as a consequence of the collapse of Flyglobespan, and there are clear duties that require relevant parties to co-operate with the administrator.

The spokesman continued by saying that the UK Government will continue to be pressured to investigate fully the circumstances under which the funds were withheld.

Approximately 550 workers were made redundant and thousands of holidaymakers were left stranded overseas, with many more losing out on holidays which had already been paid for when the Globespan Group was placed into administration last month.