Thomas Cook failure blow to travellers and local jobs

FLIGHTS are landing in the UK’s largest peacetime repatriation after travel giant Thomas Cook collapsed.

Some 150,000 tourists are being brought home over the next two weeks in a Civil Aviation Authority flight programme costing £100m. Around 15,000 passengers were thought to have travelled on 61 such flights by the end of Monday. All future Thomas Cook bookings have been cancelled, affecting around one million people. The £100m bill will be met by the Atol scheme and the Government.

Atol provides protection to customers on package holidays when travel firms collapse, although passengers who made flight-only bookings with Thomas Cook are also being brought home at no extra charge.

Thomas Cook package holiday customers will also see the cost of their accommodation covered by Atol. Those who have not yet started their package holiday will be given a refund, while those on flight-only bookings are advised to seek reimbursement from their credit or debit card provider, or claim through their travel insurer.

Thomas Cook ceased trading in the early hours of Monday after failing to secure a last-ditch rescue deal. Unions representing its staff, of which there are 9,000 across the group in the UK, had previously urged the Government to intervene financially.

The demise of Thomas Cook is set to leave gaps on high streets across North Wales and see up to 100 workers made redundant. It had five agencies in North Wales – at Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Bangor, Broughton shopping park and Wrexham.