HUNDREDS of worldwide customers of a collapsed North-East removals company are still trying to trace their possessions – and some have been waiting for months for their deliveries, The Northern Echo has learned.

Administrators of Pearsons Home Moving, based in Middlesbrough, said they are fielding calls from more than 200 sub-contractors of the international removals firm, as well as hundreds of customers who have lost most of their worldly possessions.

Some customers have been forced to pay extra duties on their goods as they were inexplicably transported to the UK – and all are having to negotiate new contracts with Pearson sub contractors, effectively paying twice for their removals.

Neil Money, of CBA Business Solutions, has been appointed as administrator but his firm is swamped with hundreds of cases and he has been unable to speak to every customer so far.

He is expected to make a statement to customers early next week.

A spokeswoman for CBA said: "We really feel for these customers, it is a horrible situation to be in. Everyone wants their stuff back and it is just a case of saying, just give us a few days. We know it is difficult and we are trying to work through it all as fast as we can."

Customer Cecilie Sneesby left Norway to move to Australia in June with her husband and two small children and just four suitcases, and is still waiting for their delivery.

She told The Northern Echo: "We were promised delivery within eight to ten weeks. A month after our move, problems started to arise. We were randomly told to pay extra custom tax to England (£2,000 extra).

"We did some research and found out this wasn't right." She asked her moving manager to sort the matter out and after 'one week of silence' he said he had.

"Then Pearson sent our goods back to our old address in Norway," she said.

"We received a random phonecall from DHL Norway, asking if we were at home, in the country we just moved from. After that we thought we were sorted.

"We were reassured several times by our moving manager that our belongings were inside a shared container waiting to be consolidated. Then Pearsons stopped answering emails and phonecalls.

"No-one knew where our belongings were.

"We came to Australia on July 3 with four suitcases, and it is shocking what Pearson has done over several months."

She said she now had traced her belongings but had to pay a subcontractor almost £600 to release them, which she said was 'reasonable' as they had not been paid.