Angry participants in a competition to win a £500,000 Shropshire house are demanding a refund after claiming they have not received their cash back more than two weeks after sending a request.

A number of people who bought £15 tickets for the competition to win the seven-bedroom house in Middletown say they are getting increasingly concerned at the lack of information being provided by the owners who organised the failed contest.

Nick and Liz Turner had suggested entrants give them permission to send the entry money to charity after stating the Gambling Commission had blocked them giving away a cash prize.

They had suggested people donate their entry money to the Shrewsbury Lions Club.

But entrant Jane Froggatt, of Staffordshire, said she was furious.

Uncomfortable

She said: “They have messed people around long enough. They e-mailed us in March asking us to send bank details.

“I’m a bit uncomfortable in sending my bank details to this couple and not receiving an e-mail to say they have got it. I just want an end to it so they can send me my money back.”

A fellow entrant, from Shrewsbury, said: “I e-mailed them to say I wanted a refund and not to give it to their charity. I haven’t heard anything back and I think it’s pretty poor.”

But Mr Turner said the couple had been swamped by e-mails. He said the database system was never intended to deal with such a problem, but promised those who had asked for a refund would get one.

Mr Turner said: “We’re just slowly working through them. To do a refund people probably think is quite a simple thing, but it’s not because the system was not designed to send mass e-mails to everyone.

“Nobody has to worry. I can understand it’s human nature but it’s not as if we’re running off with the money we’re just having to work through all the e-mails.”

Mr Turner said that to make one refund took about 20 minutes because of checks that were needed.

By Russell Roberts