Pictured on a happier day as they lifted the Festival of Football Cup are U12 Annalong Rovers with coach Marcus McKibbin, assistant coach John McCormick and the Consumer Council’s Kathy Graham.

Under 12 footballers Annalong Rovers are celebrating after ‘scoring’ nearly £6,000 compensation when their flight home from a tournament was cancelled in March.

The 28 passengers each secured €250 after they contacted ‘defenders’ the Consumer Council who ‘tackled’ the airline on their behalf.

Speaking about the experience Coach Marcus McKibbin said: “Our Under 12 team had had a great tournament and made it to the finals of the Blackpool Cup. Losing just one match along the way we were delighted to be coming home with the Runner Up cup. The kids were in high spirits and excited to show it to friends and family back home. But then problems arose when our flight from Liverpool back to Belfast was cancelled. It was stressful for the children and the parents as we had to wait until the following day to get another flight. The majority spent the night in the airport and it was very frustrating as we didn’t get much information from the airline. When we finally got home we had to pay for another coach to take us back to Kilkeel.

“We were going to mark it down as an unfortunate end to a great tournament until we found out that the Consumer Council could help us. We contacted them with the details of what happened and they took up our complaint with the airline. We were surprised and delighted when Consumer Council staff told us they’d secured compensation for us of nearly £6,000.  It had been so straightforward, we just told them what happened, gave them the flight and airline details and they did all the investigating and negotiating on our behalf.”

The Consumer Council’s Kathy Graham said: “Our Consumer Support team is available for anyone in Northern Ireland who has a complaint they haven’t been able to resolve on their own. We deal with all kinds of issues from energy and water bills and meters, to public transport, flights, ferries and postal services. We are so pleased to have been able to help Annalong Rovers secure this compensation as we know flight delays and cancellations can be stressful and really inconvenient, especially when travelling with children.”

For more information or if you have a complaint you need assistance with contact the Consumer Council on 0800 121 6022 or email complaints@consumercouncil.org.uk. The organisation can also be contacted via facebook or twitter.