Thomas Cook has been the subject of severe turbulence recently and sadly, it wasn’t as simple as just a pocket of hot air – the company went into administration and as a result, thousands upon thousands of people have been left stranded, and not just on holiday either.
Former employees were given no notice of just how bad the situation was plus holidaymakers both on holiday and those who had holidays booked in advance, are facing lengthy delays on refunds.
Not All Doom and Gloom:
More than 150,000 Brits were brought back to the UK, over a million lost future bookings and approximately 21,000 employees are now left with no job. The fate of the 178-year old travel company will no doubt have an effect on people in Europe too, from taxi drivers to hotel cleaners.
There is some good news; if you booked a holiday and it had ATOL protection, you will get your money back.
Gestures of Good Will:
Many companies have rallied around and done as much as they possibly can to help those affected; Centre Parks were giving away free UK breaks to customers who were due to head off abroad after news broke, rival low-cost airline EasyJet were flying people home on re-routed flights and top fashion website Pretty Little Thing handed out thousands of pounds of free clothes to those who had recently been given the sack.
Buzz Bingo is another company who has gone above and beyond for former Thomas Cook staff, after inviting the now-unemployed members of staff from the Cook Meadowhall branch, for an evening of session bingo – on the house! Donna Bailey, the once store manager of the travel firm was extremely grateful and said the gesture was a nice treat for her and her former colleagues.
“They put something on their website telling anyone who worked for Thomas Cook they could come and have a game on them. When we arrived, they greeted us and led us to an area where there was buck’s fizz and gave us a drink. Then they brought us food platters during their break. We had a great night and a few of us had a win too. The staff were lovely and really kind to us. We thought it was a lovely gesture,” she said.
Donna had worked for the firm for 20-years and revealed that she has benefited from many acts of kindness since the collapse of the business, from having her bails done for free to receiving food donations from Morrisons.
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