The Office of Fair Trading says that some help is now available to customers of FarePak Food and Gifts Limited following the collapse of the company with ?40 million in debts.

Customers paid monthly in advance to the firm or its agents towards food hampers for the festive season. In October the company went into administration and was no longer able to meet any orders for hampers, vouchers or gifts. Joint administrators are working to realise the assets of the company and any one with a claim was told to send their details in.

Customers were asked not to discard their payment book or any other paperwork as this would be required at a future date to prove their claim.

A fund has now been set up in the UK to help those affected by the collapse. The Farepak Response Fund (FRF) is an independent charity being set up to administer a scheme. The Farepak Response Fund will operate on a temporary basis.

Over the coming weeks the Farepak Response Fund will deal directly with Farepak agents. Goodwill payments, in the form of vouchers, will be distributed directly to those agents by no later than the 18th December 2006. The Fund will cover all agents, regardless of location.

There is no need for agents or individual customers to contact or register with the Farepak Response Fund. They will contact consumers directly.