Bristling brides march on HSBC

The 20-strong band of brides and grooms was swamped by the nation's press as it called for HSBC to help bail out the troubled company, which went into administration this week with a backlog of undelivered gifts worth £3.5million.

Bride-to-be Beth Gordon-Smith, 28, is still owed £2,500 worth of presents from guests.

She said: "I just want to make sure my guests get their money back. I'm getting married in a month and it's cast a shadow over our day.
"We heard some rumours Wrapit was about to go bust, and they denied it when we asked them.
"It's just an awful situation. I really feel for those people who came back from their honeymoons to this."

Groom Mark Frost, 25, has received about half of his gifts from his Californian wedding in March, but is still owed about £1,000 worth of new fittings and decorations for his new home.

He said: "You feel angry for your guests because they're the people that have spent the money. But it's difficult enough for young couples to make a new start in the current climate without something like this happening.
"We're still using a lot of stuff from my student days. We'll get by, but it would be nice to have the gifts."

Protester Ellie Cowe - sporting a distinctive bridal veil - is still owed £3,500 worth of presents from her March wedding.

The 29-year-old said: "We only found out about this problem through the media. A lot of our guests are not happy. They feel let down by the company."

HSBC had withdrawn the credit card processing facility for the troubled company, but protesters presented a 950-name petition to the bank calling on it to help arrange delivery of the gifts or arrange for guests to be paid back, either by reimbursement or in the form of vouchers.

The bank has pointed to its long-term problems with the credit crunch, and does not believe delivering the gifts would be "appropriate or practical".

A statement released this week said: "HSBC's view is that this should never have happened and had the directors acted sooner to address their financial difficulties and appointed administrators when HSBC recommended, it may not have.
"HSBC refutes any suggestion that HSBC was responsible for the company’s failure. HSBC believes it has done all it can over recent months to assist the directors. HSBC has at all times acted appropriately given the circumstances and any suggestion that HSBC is responsible for Wrapit's problems is absolutely denied."