A FURIOUS dad has said a school’s actions are “tantamount to theft” after withholding a school trip deposit.

David Feeney’s daughter was due to go on a ‘once in a lifetime’ journey to New York with classmates next month.

But with travel restrictions in place due to the Covid-19 crisis, the five-day travel experience has been called off.

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David expected Lourdes Secondary School to pay back the £1400 cost of the trip in its entirety.

The school had repeatedly told him a £250 deposit was non-refundable.

But after contact from the Glasgow Times, council bosses have said its insurance team is working to get parents their money back.

The dad, from Sheildhall, said: “The total cost was a whopping £1400, which was fully paid.

“Obviously, due to the global pandemic no travel is take place.

“I was fully expecting the full amount back but the school is saying the deposit of £250 is non refundable per pupil.

“I think this is totally shocking in this current financial climate of job losses and furloughing – parents need every penny.”

David said his daughter is one of 20 pupils who were expecting to go on the trip and is extremely disappointed to be missing out.

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But, of course, the holiday - and others in schools across the city - cannot go ahead for safety reasons.

He said the school, in Cardonald, has been very sympathetic to the situation facing parents but is “passing the buck” by saying it is a Glasgow City Council-wide issue.

David added: “I have friends with children at a school in Ayrshire in the same situation but they have had

every penny of their money back so

I don’t understand why our council is different.

“Our school is not in a wealthy catchment area, we are not in Bearsden or Milngavie, we are talking about working class communities here where parents are doing their best to give their children what they can.

“This was going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity for my daughter.

“It’s one thing if it was a family holiday that we had booked and we were having to take the hit but it was not the parents who booked the trip so why are we being penalised for this?

“It’s tantamount to theft.”

A council spokeswoman said: “All school trips were cancelled when it became obvious that the current health pandemic would stop all international travel for the foreseeable future.

“Our school staff have spent time working with the individual travel companies to make sure that parents receive the majority of their money back and our insurance team is currently working to make sure that all non-refundable deposits will be paid back to families as well.

“This will take some time as companies are overwhelmed with claims, have different working practices and there will be staff shortages.

“We know that parents are bound to be frustrated but we would like to reassure them that they will receive their final monies as soon as possible.”