A JUST GIVING page set up by Bar 125 following November’s flooding has been closed, with £2,490 returning to donators after a missed confirmation deadline.

After Storm Claudia, Bar 125 launched a Just Giving Page to support itself and several other affected businesses across the town including The Robin Hood and The Green Dragon. However, with the bar opening within 10 days after the flooding, the owners removed themselves from the page but kept it running on behalf of the other businesses, and additional businesses were added later; the page went on to raise £2,490.

Andrea Sholl, Co-owner at Bar 125 said she contacted the fundraising page every day since December to ask why the money could not be withdrawn so it could be passed onto the intended recipients. Andrea said she received automated replies saying they will get back to her and the funds were kept safe.

When she went back into the page, she couldn’t retrieve any messages through the site, so she checked her emails to see if they had contacted her via this form of communication, but Andrea said there was nothing.

She discovered an email in her spam folder asking for information from the other pubs to confirm if she had permission to raise funds on behalf of them. The email gave a deadline of February 6 to respond, but due to it being in a spam folder, it was missed.

Due to missing the deadline, Andrea received another email informing her that the page had been shut down and all of the funds were going to be returned to people who donated to the page.

Co-owner of Bar 125, Andrea Sholl, said: “I have spent so much time trying to resolve this even though we pulled out as being one of the recipients, and I’m just glad it’s finally resolved.”