THE owner of a school uniform shop insists that no parents will be left out of pocket despite the store ceasing trading.

Caroline Murphy, proprietor of the Uniform Store in Royston High Street, confirmed that the shop had closed, but said that all money that had been paid for outstanding orders would be refunded once she was able to contact customers.

As we reported last week, the Uniform Store has been closed since the beginning of September, with parents left in the dark as to when they would receive items they had requested and, in some cases, paid for.

“No parent will be left out of pocket, but we do need to be able to get in contact with them, so they should put a note through the door. To date we have had only one,” said Ms Murphy.

“Some parents only left a telephone number.

“All parents who did not get their uniforms will be refunded and some have had orders filled this week and this is an ongoing process of being able to get in contact with them and get them a refund.

“If any parent has a grievance they can write in to the store and their mail will be collected and answered and they will be refunded.”

Ms Murphy said the store had run into difficulties getting hold of specially manufactured uniforms, such as the ones worn at Melbourn Village College, Greneway School, and Freman College in Buntingford.

“These items are specialist manufactured and are not off-the-shelf items. this is a known problem within the industry at this time of year,” she said.

“As a business we set up on the high street to give parents the opportunity to try on items before they buy.

“However, in a recession people’s buying habits have been very different, and supporting them with off-the-shelf garments became too difficult.

“We put messages on our website advising parents to buy early and not to expect orders to be filled for back to school after August 10. But still the orders poured in.

“Those schools with off-spectrum colour [uniforms] have been placed with other suppliers.

“Schools have been advised to let the parents know about this in time for half term.”

Since our story last week, The Crow has been inundated with messages from parents who are still waiting for items.

Hertfordshire Trading Standards said it was aware that parents had been having difficulties contacting the shop.