So are we still entitled to our money back from ESS even though MSV have taken over the date??

You will get very little out of ESS I would expect.
Credit card insurance is the route to get the money we paid back in the 'normal' way.
I have talked with my credit card company, and am sending them a printout of my booking confirmation together with the official ESS cancellation letter.
They say that it depends on how quickly the administrators talk to them as to how quickly they resolve the issue and pay us back, but it sometimes happens within 2 weeks.

[Edited on 3-8-2005 by phil_h]

I paid with normal debit card and bank say they can do nothing

I don't want to pay out more money to MSV and find it still isn't going to happen and then have to try to claim that money back as well - apparently they need 30 bikes to go ahead. Will phone them tomorrow to check progress.