My flight back from Luton to Madrid was cancelled recently, a claim was put on and they have said it was 'technical reasons', they are not responsible and will not pay compensation.
Exact same story here (multiple occurrences of last minute cancellation - on different route though).
I have just opened a case with the relevant "national enforcement body" - we shall see how it unfolds. In your case I would start with the
Air Transport Users Council
In any case crew shortage is definitely not beyond their control as far as I am concerned and I will not give up Easy-ly (tm)
