CHRISTMAS has been cancelled for a group of shop workers who have lost their savings after a gift firm went bust.

The six women, who all work at Woolworths in Warminster, had been putting aside a little of their wages each month through a scheme run by Farepak Food and Gifts Ltd, based in Swindon.

But they learned on Monday the firm had gone into liquidation and all the money they were relying on had gone.

Shirley Fitzsimons, 48, of Westleigh, said: "I was devastated. I have a little boy of seven and five grandchildren and how can I explain this to them?

"You work all year to pay for Christmas and then it is just gone in a flash."

The money saved with Farepack should have been returned to the women in the form of High Street vouchers or hampers, depending on what they chose.

Mrs Fitzsimons had saved £600 by putting aside £60 a month and planned to use it to splash out on her son, seven-year-old Kieran, whose birthday is the week before Christmas, her three older children and her grandchildren, aged from one to four.

Single mum Jenni Brake, 38, of Emwell Street, lost her hard-earned £260 and is also facing a bleak festive season, along with her 17-year-old son, Jack.

She said: "It is just cancelled really because I can't afford it now. The firm must have known something was wrong and they still collected our money.

"Saving this way was great for people without very much money like me. It meant I didn't have to worry because I had my vouchers so Jack and I could have a nice Christmas."

Pat Morrissey, 57, had been an agent for Farepak for more than 15 years and collected the money from her colleagues, as well as another 13 people in Warminster, to be sent to the firm.

She lost £750 herself and faced having to break the news to all of the others, including her daughter Andrea, 29, that their savings had gone. She said: "I think I spent the whole day crying. It was absolutely awful and there were a lot of tears."

Farepak employed 35,000 agents across the country and had been going for 35 years. The firm went into administration on Friday and a statement told customers they could put in a claim for compensation but would not be receiving the goods and vouchers paid for this year.