The organiser of a Covid-hit Wiltshire balloon festival has defended his firm’s handling of requests for refunds amid complaints that people have waited too long for hundreds of pounds in ticket cash.

The Great Balloon Race Extravaganza was this week delayed for the second time in little over a month, throwing the plans of around 12,000 people into turmoil.

Companies providing security and other key services at the extravaganza have been hit by the so-called pingdemic, with staff forced to self-isolate after being pinged by the NHS app.

Event director Adam Faulkner said they could no longer guarantee the safety of the event, which would have seen aerial acts, balloon displays and music at the estate on the A429.

Mr Faulkner said they had returned around £45,000 in refunds to around 240 people who had not wanted to attend the rescheduled event, with what he said was only five per cent of those who had asked for their money back still waiting.

One woman who is waiting for a £240 refund said she had first asked for her money back on June 29, and had sent three emails in total.

“I’ve heard nothing,” she said.

READ MORE: Great Balloon Race organisers 'heartbroken' to cancel again

On the event’s Facebook page – where most comments which are critical get removed by the firm – there have also been complaints from people who had booked time off work or even hotel accommodation to tie in with the August Charlton Park dates.

Mr Faulkner said he was ‘superkeen’ to find a new date for the event in the coming months, and would be looking at whether the current system of booking tickets in groups of six people could be amended to allow for individuals or couples to sign up.

He admitted there had been some hold-ups in processing refunds for people not wanting to switch from their original Bowood booking dates.

Everyone who is currently booked in for Charlton Park will be offered the choice of a refund or an area at a rescheduled event, with refunds taking up to 30 days to turn around.

He said that if people had waited longer than 30 days, they should email the company again.

Mr Faulkner said they were aiming to beat that deadline, but that he and other members of his team were now self-isolating because a colleague had tested positive.

“We have been quite touched by the kindness of people, but we do understand the frustration, and that people will be upset.”

Last year, Mr Faulkner was successfully sued by the organisers of a charity event in Kent after he refused to provide a water slide which they had paid half the costs of.

Mr Faulkner had insisted on being paid the full cost of the 300ft slide in advance of the event in Ramsgate in 2017.

This week he said: “This was a very different situation. It wasn’t an event we organised. If you order something that’s bespoke, then you have to pay for it.

“It’s very disappointing that we lost the case.”

A lifelong balloonist, Mr Faulkner insisted he was hugely serious about staging the Wiltshire event, and that the firm had successfully put on an extravaganza on the Isle of Wight in May.

An event planned for Bedfordshire in September is still due to go ahead.

He said many of his early training flights as a balloonist had been over Malmesbury.

“I have a connection with Wiltshire and ballooning is my life.”