‘They told me not to cancel my trip. Now I worry I won’t be able to come home’
THOMAS Cook customers who face being stranded abroad have slammed the travel company for masking the extent of its problems.
Worried Britons who flew to Ibiza on Thomas Cook package holidays yesterday said staff carried on as normal despite the likelihood of the 178-year- old firm going bust today.
It comes as dozens of British holidaymakers were ‘held hostage’ by guards at a hotel in Tunisia amid fears it would not be paid by the firm if it went bankrupt.
The growing uncertainty around the company’s future had pensioners worrying they would be thrown out of their Ibiza hotels and others fearing they would be unable to return home to work and family commitments.
But despite the unease, many tourists spoken to by the Daily Mail yesterday vowed to continue enjoying their holiday.
Jacqui and Steve Butler from Stoke-on-Trent arrived in Ibiza yesterday morning.
The couple left their children, aged 24 and 22, back in England. Postman Mr Butler, 47, joked: ‘I’ve told the kids if we are not back by December then they can get worried.’
Retired teaching assistant Pat Fleming, 72, said she visited a Thomas Cook travel agency on Saturday looking to cancel her trip after reading about the company’s financial problems. ‘I wanted to cancel because I was frightened thinking I wouldn’t be able to get back to England or the holiday would be ruined. But
From Glen Keogh ‘We haven’t got a clue what’s going on’
they told me to just act like normal. It seemed strange after I had read they might ground flights. I am worried about not getting home. The travel agent said don’t take any notice of it. They told us to carry on as normal.’
Because the company is covered by Atol protection, package holiday tourists already abroad have been assured that plans will be put in place to bring them home.
Barbara Soar, 70, from Barnsley, also bemoaned the operator’s lack of communication with affected passengers.
‘We have not seen a Thomas Cook rep, not even once,’ she said. ‘ We haven’t got a clue what’s going on. We don’t know what’s happening. We would expect them to be helping us but I imagine they’ve jumped on the plane and gone home themselves.
‘It’s a real shame about Thomas Cook. The very first holiday I had in 1973 was a package with Thomas Cook – it’s a shame as they have been going so long.’
A company representative working in nearby San Antonio said: ‘It’s business as usual. We haven’t had any updates ourselves. I will be out of a job if it goes into administration.’
Despite fears over return trips to Britain, the overwhelming feeling on the party island was to continue enjoying the sun, sea and sangria until the last possible moment.
Nursery assistant Georgina Humphries and four friends arrived in Ibiza from their homes in Stokeon-Trent yesterday for a three-day trip. The 21-year-old said: ‘We are not too fussed. I’m sure we’ll get back, one way or another. I don’t mind if I stay – if I’ve got to stay, it’s happy days really!
‘We were reading about it before we travelled but it didn’t put us off. We aren’t going to let it spoil our holiday.’
In Tunisia, a group of 30 Britons were told to hand over thousands of pounds on Saturday, despite having already paid Thomas Cook for their hotel stay. Guards were stationed at the locked gates of Les Orangers, in the resort town of Hammamet, as staff insisted the customers needed to pay again in order to leave.
Sophie Rees, 24, from Swansea, said: ‘We did not pay them. We already had paid Thomas Cook and it sounded a little bit dodgy. However a woman, who I would say was in her late 80s or early 90s, paid £2,500.’
The stand-off was resolved several hours later amid claims by guests that two company representatives entered the hotel and handed over a large amount of money.
Thomas Cook refused to answer questions about whether any of the guests had handed over money, or whether it had paid the hotel.