A WORCESTERSHIRE woman who faced a bleak Christmas after losing out when the Farepak savings scheme went into administration has received a letter from Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Theresa Millward of Evesham wrote to Tony Blair in November after falling victim to the collapse of the scheme along with her two friends Carol Parker, of Wyre Piddle, and June Nye, of Fladbury. She lost out on £1,350.

"I wrote to Mr Blair and was pleased to get a letter back which explained all about the Farepak problems and how the Government was trying to help," she said.

"I know some families got hampers and I saw one little boy with cancer was given the trike he wanted.

"Our agent still blames herself but we know it wasn't her fault. It has happened and it is over with now - we will just move on."

Her friend Ms Parker added: "We all made the best of Christmas, it was quieter than usual but we got on with it and we all got £55 in tokens from the charity that was set up following the collapse of Farepak. It is nowhere near what we put in but we are grateful for what we got."

More than 300,000 customers lost out when Farepak went into administrations in October.

High street stores such as Argos and Marks & Spencer, many of which sold vouchers through Farepak, donated £4.25m to an appeal fund set up by the Department of Trade and Industry, including £2m from HBOS.

The charity organising the appeal - Family Fund - also received £11,500 in individual donations from the public.

The money was distributed to the worst-off Farepak customers earlier this month.