A COUPLE have been left penniless and devastated after they both lost their jobs when a city photographer's studio closed.
Leanne Addison and Andrew Taylor, both 21, have been left out of work just a week before Christmas after the nationwide Olan Mills chain collapsed.
The couple got jobs at the firm's studio in Fawcett Street, Sunderland, four years ago and they thoug
ht they had a long career ahead of them.
But Leanne and Andrew, from Plains Farm, were distraught after they found out on Thursday that the city centre studio was to close after the Olan Mills chain collapsed.
The couple were also told by the management of the collapsed company that they were unlikely to get the thousands in pounds they are owed in pay.
Now the pair say they are facing a bleak Christmas with no money and little chance of finding a job until after the festive season.
The Echo reported on Saturday how Olan Mills staff have been left out of work and hundreds of families face losing out on precious Christmas memories after the collapse of the firm.
Leanne said she is disgusted with the way she and her partner were treated by the company.
She said: "It's terrible. It was disgusting the way they did it. We were told we all had to be in for a conference call at half-past seven.
"They knew from four o'clock but they made us wait and stay behind to find out.
"They said they hadn't been making much money and they'd been trying to sell. But they hadn't told the staff that. We didn't know they were in trouble.
"A few months ago they said we'd been doing really well.
"They said there was a website to go to where we could claim but it wasn't guaranteed we'd get our money.
"We were due to get two weeks' pay on the Friday but they told us on the Thursday we wouldn't be getting paid."
The couple say they were due two weeks' pay each, as well as three weeks' holiday pay and four weeks notice pay.
Leanne said: "We're just devastated, I just can't believe it. We've bought Christmas presents but we haven't got any money left to buy food over Christmas because we didn't know this was going to happen."
Leanne and Andrew have applied for emergency benefits to get them through the Christmas period but fear it may be a few months before they can find work.
Customers disgusted at treatment by company
MUM-OF-TWO Emma Hopper paid £35 to Olan Mills just weeks ago for a series of photos of her 11-week-old baby girl Kadi.
The 22-year-old, from Silksworth, had bought the same Watch Me Grow package for her four-year-old son Lee and wanted to do the same for her daughter.
Now she and husband Shaun, 22, are among hundreds of Wearside families who face losing out on precious photographs.
The couple are outraged that the company has taken cash from customers up until the last minute.
She said: "They must have known, but they've let people fork out for the photographs anyway. The money's not the problem really, it's just not right how it's been done. I think it's disgusting."
Gemma Lewis, 22, from Ryhope, was furious when she found out she would not be able to have the photographs of her three-year-old son Callum taken after she had forked out £26.
"I get them every year and they've been good so far," she said.
"But I've paid for four 8x10 photos of Callum and it doesn't look like I'm going to get them taken."
Samantha Hilton, 20, from Downhill, was given £60 by her mum to pay for a package of pictures of her nine-month-old son Elliot for Christmas.
She said: "I just paid the £60 last week and I think it's terrible they knew this was coming and they kept on taking people's money."
Joanne Teesdale, 21, from Red House, paid £35 for pictures of her daughter Grace, 15 months, to give as Christmas presents but now she says she has lost her money and won't be able to get new pictures taken in time.
Judge to rule in Farepak collapse
A HIGH Court judge will rule today whether a lucky few subscribers to the collapsed Christmas savings club Farepak should share in a near £1million refund in time for the festive season.
The sums involved for the several hundred individuals may amount to no more than between £5 and £50, and they represent only a fraction of the estimated £40million lost by Farepak customers.
Mr Justice Mann will decide the legal status of an interim fund of money built up over just a few days in October between the collapse of Farepak and the date on which administrators moved in.
The issue is whether the money in the interim fund was held by local agents "in trust" for the company – or for the customers, in which case it should be repaid to them immediately.
Lexa Hilliard, counsel for the administrators, said the case was urgent because it could mean hundreds of people getting more to spend at Christmas and New Year.
Agents would be given sums ranging from £1,500 to as little as £17 to share out among their own small circle of customers, for whom "it will be a source of great satisfaction and great joy".
The dispute is over whether the interim fund should be simply repaid to a few hundred customers or put into the general pot to be shared between all creditors.
