A HEARTBROKEN mother has criticised a moving firm who refused to refund her after the death of her daughter meant she no longer needed to relocate.

Pauline Batterbee hired Hartlepool company Focus Removals to help her to move from Devon to Sunderland so that she could be closer to family members and access support during her daughter’s battle with terminal illness.

However, Hannah Batterbee – who suffered with the rare and degenerative Juvenile Batten Disease – succumbed to her illness at just 23, shortly before her family were due to move.

Her death meant that the relocation was no longer necessary and so Ms Batterbee contacted Focus Removals to cancel their services and request a refund of her £475 deposit to assist with the £4,500 cost of Hannah’s funeral.

The refund was initially agreed upon as a goodwill gesture by a member of staff who sympathised with Ms Batterbee’s plight.

However, the money never reached Ms Batterbee, with promised bank transfers failing to materialise and a cheque sent months after her request going on to bounce.

A spokesman for Focus Removals said the decision to provide a refund was not in line with terms and conditions emailed to Ms Batterbee, who says she did not receive them.

He said the goodwill gesture had been overturned by a senior member of staff because “we are a business, after all”.

Ms Batterbee, who lives in Exeter, said that the prolonged negotiations over the refund and the eventual refusal had added to the distress caused by the loss of her child.

Currently planning to submit her case to the small claims court, she said: “I think it’s disgusting – they knew my circumstances and why I needed that money, I was extremely stressed and the refund would have helped me to pay funeral costs.

“Hannah was a phenomenal child who dealt with everything with extreme dignity, she never moaned and smiled every day.

“For something like this to happen on the back of her demise is an insult to her memory, they clearly have no morals.

“If they did, they would know I’d already been through enough and just give the money back, rather than fob me off for months.”

Ms Batterbee said company representatives had been rude to her, a claim that was countered by the Focus Removals spokesman, who accused her of upsetting staff in turn.

He said: “I know she has a lot going on but she was screaming and blaming us for not being able to pay for her daughter’s funeral. She was sent the terms and conditions that state if a job is cancelled in full we do not do refunds.”