Administrators for Globespan Group have filed a petition to force the failed company’s credit card payment processing firm E-Clear into administration.

PricewaterhouseCoopers took the step to force E-Clear to disclose if it has the £35 million in payments it was withholding from Globespan when it went bust before Christmas.

PwC’s petition comes on top of a separate winding up petition filed by Globespan’s directors in the days before it collapsed on December 16. That action remains in process and is due to be heard next month.

PwC said yesterday it believed the £35 million of payments E-Clear was withholding from Globespan, which ran an airline and a tour operator, was “excessive”.

It asked E-Clear before Christmas to place the money in a joint account, but that has not yet happened.

It is understood that about £15 million of the £35 million relates to money E-Clear had taken from customers who had yet to fly.

That leaves £20 million taken from customers who have already flown, which would normally be passed on to the airline.

Some customers who have flown may claim money from a credit card payment processor if they were unsatisfied, but PwC said past experience suggested those amounts would not be significant.

A spokesman for Scottish finance secretary John Swinney said he hoped PwC’s action would lead to the recovery of money due to the airline Flyglobespan and its customers.

"The fact that the administrator has taken this action suggests a lack of co-operation on the part of E-Clear,” he said.

"This is quite intolerable, as many people have lost their jobs or face financial hardship as a consequence of the collapse of 
Flyglobespan, and there are clear duties that require relevant parties to co-operate with the administrator."

E-Clear has also been fighting an action from the Slovak authorities winding up SkyEurope, which claimed E-Clear was withholding £13 million in ticket sales when the carrier went under last summer.