Martyn Backlund-Leale has been left £900 out of pocket by the collapse of XL but he, wife Clare and sons Ernie, 3, and Joseph, 5, are booking their Florida holiday with another agent. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0641066)

A FAMILY of four has lost nearly £900 and been forced to re-book a holiday because the XL travel group collapsed.

But the Backlund-Leales are philosophical because, they said, many people were worse affected than them.

‘We will have to pay a lot more money to go to another airline,’ said Martyn Backlund-Leale, a taxi driver.

He and wife Clare had already paid two instalments for a two-week holiday next February for them and sons Joseph, 5, and Ernie, 3, complete with flights, hotels and entry to Disney World in Florida when the news about the collapse broke.

‘We were surprised. We were recommended the company by friends who used them four or five times and said they were good,’ Mr Backlund-Leale said.

XL, Britain’s third-largest holiday company, announced on Friday that it had gone into administration, stranding 85,000 passengers overseas.