A TRAIN company which owes thousands of pounds to North-East customers is facing financial collapse, it has emerged.

Administrators appointed to run Cargo-D Ltd, which trades as Rail-Blue Charters, say they will do their best to refund customers’ money.

The operator was due to run a private excursion from the North-East, through Yorkshire and along the Settle Carlisle line to Cumbria, with tickets costing from £69 to £179, on September 9.

Advertisements placed in The Northern Echo in August were published in good faith.

However, customers never received their tickets. When they called customer services or checked the company website, they were told the trip had been cancelled because of a power problem and the unavailability of a kitchen car.

The company failed to answer phone calls or emails from customers, although company director Ingrid Sluis did contact the Echo as recently as last Monday to advise that refunds were being processed.

However, a statement published on the company website two days later said that Carl Jackson and Sandy Kinninmonth, of RSM Tenon, had been appointed joint administrators by finance company State Securities Plc.

It added: “The joint administrators are managing the affairs, business and property of the company and act without personal liability.”

Peter Taylor, from Ferryhill, was one of dozens of rail enthusiasts who paid in advance for tickets – and has never received a refund.

He said: “They were very quick to take the money beforehand.

They did send out a refund form. I sent it back, but never heard anything else.”

Avis Williamson, from Bishop Auckland, paid more than £300 for two first-class tickets.

She hopes to recover the money from her credit card company.

Several unhappy passengers have contacted Darlington Borough and Durham County Council’s trading standards departments, which advised them to attempt to claim money back from their credit card company.

A spokesman for administrators RSM Tenon said last night: “We will try our best to retrieve lost money for both suppliers and customers, but unfortunately cannot make any firm comment on the issue of refunds until we have completed our initial review of the company’s accounts.”

“If you have an outstanding ticket, contact rsmtenon.com/ railbluecharters.”

To contact the administrators, call James Prior on 023- 8064-6520 or email james.prior @rsmtenon.com