OVER 100 people from Pembrokeshire have been adversely affected by the collapse of Britain’s oldest travel firm.

Founded in Market Harborough in 1841 by businessman Thomas Cook, the company organised railway outings for members of the local temperance movement. 178 years later, it had grown to a huge global travel group, with annual sales of £9bn, 19 million customers a year and 22,000 staff operating in 16 countries.
But all that came to an end on Monday (Sept 23), the Civil Aviation Authority announced that Thomas Cook was to cease trading.

Brian Hancock, who works in advertising sales at this newspaper, and his partner Emily were due to fly out today for a holiday of a lifetime in Mexico, but they arrived at the airport just hours after their tour operator was put into administration.

Brett Beasley and Julie Cassley from Milford Haven were due to fly to Benidorm on Saturday, September 28, for 10 nights flying from Luton. They paid over £2000 for their first time abroad.

Brett said he ‘feels let down’ by the customer service and ‘should have prepared customers for the outcome’.

Brian and Emily Hancock from Johnston have had their two week Mexico holiday cancelled as they arrived to check in

Sian James was due to fly on Thursday (Sept 26) the flight has been cancelled. She also told me that travel agencies have been pushing their prices up. She was due to go to Lara beach in

Antalya Turkey for eight nights with her partner and three children. She said she is “gutted”.

Sian told The Herald: “Lucky my boss is understanding, and we can go a bit later. Also, lucky my partner is off until October 30. We have a few commitments we will have to sacrifice by changing dates”

Gemma Richards is with her boyfriend in Greece, she has been told to pay £165 per night to stay in a hotel “fuming I came here to have a relax after stressful time to be made more stressed and poorly.”

Lisa Fee said: “We were due to fly to Turkey on Thursday. Trying to book another holiday today so we can still go.”

Laura Bowditch said that she had a holiday booked for May next year. She said: “Feel sorry for all the staff that have lost their jobs, but this was my dream holiday. God knows how long
it will take to get a refund to book another one”

Rebecca Singh said: “My childminder went abroad with them, due back tomorrow morning. Have already informed my workplace that I might not be back in work Wednesday if she isn’t home, without her, there’s no one for my son so I can’t work. It’s a shame these people lost their jobs especially the length this company has been going for over 100 years.”

Jennie Blair said: “I’m actually in Turkey due to fly back to Cardiff today. We must vacate our room at 12pm and still don’t have a flight confirmation to get home. We have been advised not to go to the airport until a flight is confirmed but that then leaves us with no room.”

The modern Thomas Cook was in stark contrast to what the company used to be. The firm’s fate was sealed by a number of factors including financial, social and even meteorological issues.
As well as weather issues – a super hot summer meaning people were more likely to have a staycation – and stiff competition from online travel agents and low-cost airlines, there were other disruptive factors, including political unrest around the world and many holidaymakers had become used to putting together their own holidays and not using travel agents’ package deals.

In May, Thomas Cook reported a £1.5bn loss for the first half of its financial year, with £1.1bn of the loss caused by the decision to write down the value of My Travel, the business it merged with in 2007.

It is believed that Brexit was also a key factor in the disruptions with customer bookings as they awaited the fate of their country’s travel policies.

The airline company was then forced to be put up for sale in the hope that they could attain some much-needed funds to keep the company afloat. Surprisingly, the airline company had seemed to have acquired a deal with Chinese company Fosun but the creditor banks issued a last-minute demand that the company find an extra £200m which proved too costly in the end to find a solution for Thomas Cook.

The Government was asked for a bailout of £250m, which was denied. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said this on the Today programme: “I fear it would have kept them afloat for a very short period of time and then we would have been back in the position of needing to repatriate people in any case. The company’s large debts and High Street-focused business made it a poor candidate for survival”

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the company had “ceased trading with immediate effect” and it has also triggered the biggest ever peacetime repatriation, aimed at bringing more than 150,000 British holidaymakers’ home.
The tour operator’s failure puts 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide, including 9,000 in the UK and about 10 from Pembrokeshire.

Passengers arriving at airports for flights were given this handout