Hols firm families could get the boot
Travellers face being put out on street if firm goes bust
THOMAS Cook holidaymakers risk being booted out of their hotels if the travel giant goes bust.
Hoteliers who still have not been paid by the firm for the peak summer months could leave families “on the street”.
It is this requirement to find hundreds of millions of pounds to settle hotel bills which has brought matters to a head, with the money due in two weeks.
A meeting of the crisis-hit firm’s banks, bondholders and major shareholders took place yesterday.
If they fail to agree a rescue deal Thomas Cook’s board was due to potentially pull the plug on the 178-year-old company. The move would trigger the biggest peacetime repatriation of 160,000 Brits and 600,000 of all nationalities.
Those on package holidays are being reassured that the ATOL scheme will ensure they are flown back and their accommodation bills covered.
But it comes after British holidaymakers were “held hostage” at a Tunisian complex over unpaid bills by Thomas Cook.
Reports say terrified guests Les Orangers in Hammamet were locked in by security guards as staff demanded extra money amid fear it will not be paid by the holiday company.
Most refused to hand over any cash and Thomas Cook has since paid the bill and the customers have flown home. But the unprecedented nature of Thomas Cook’s collapse, if it happens, means many customers could be in the same situation, waiting for the Civil Aviation Authority, which runs the ATOL scheme, to guarantee hoteliers they will be paid.
The cost of flying back 160,000 Britons has been estimated by some at £600million, or 10 times the collapse of airline Monarch in 2017.
The Government yesterday insisted holidaymakers will not be left without help.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the Andrew Marr show: “We have got all the contingency planning to make sure no one will be stranded.”