Good nightpublished at 17:01 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
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Summary
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Thomas Cook collapses into liquidation
All flights and holidays have been cancelled
Repatriation of 150,000 Brits abroad begins
Some 21,000 jobs at risk, including 9,000 in the UK
Good nightpublished at 17:01 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
'The Thomas Cook stand was empty'published at 16:59 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Image source, Sam EmertonSam Emerton and his partner Shaylee, from Milton Keynes, arrived in Fuerteventura early Monday morning only to discover that Thomas Cook had collapsed. He told the BBC their hotel is now demanding payment if they want to stay there.
Quote MessageWe drove to Gatwick at 1:30 in the morning, unbeknown to us that Thomas Cook had collapsed. No-one told us. Our flight landed and we got our bags, only to be greeted by no-one. The Thomas Cook stand was empty.
Quote MessageAbout half an hour later a woman showed up to tell us Thomas Cook had gone bust, there were no transfers to the hotel and the hotel would not accept us unless we paid 1,211 Euros. We have been paying £330 a month since March for this all-inclusive holiday.
Quote MessageWe are currently waiting in the hotel for the staff to receive the OK from the CAA that they will be paid. We put them onto the phone with the CAA but at the moment all the hotel is offering is that we can pay for one night and see if the situation is resolved tomorrow.
Thomas Cook worker? Advice on your futurepublished at 16:57 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Are you a former or current Thomas Cook employee? The Money Advice Service has put together some details about where you stand with redundancy and your pension.
Thomas Cook's problem? Debtpublished at 16:56 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Simon Jack
BBC Business EditorIn the end Thomas Cook was a victim of that serial company killer – debt. When you owe £1.7bn, not much needs to go wrong to tip you over the edge – and with Thomas Cook a lot had been going wrong.
In fact, Thomas Cook has been struggling for a decade. Mergers with MyTravel and Co-Op had left it with 1,200 high street stores JUST as consumers were moving online.
It had a near death experience in 2011 but was saved when its lenders agreed to support it during a restructuring that saw it close over 600 bricks and mortar outlets.
Thomas Cook’s basic business model is to buy up package holidays in bulk months in advance and then sell them on. It's inherently risky as terror attacks, currency moves, unexpected heatwaves in the UK and uncertainty about ease of travel and insurance arrangements after Brexit could and did hit demand leaving the company exposed.
In May it announced a loss of £1.5bn, pushing it further into debt. Its largest shareholder, the Chinese company Fosun - which also owns another holiday company, Club Med – offered to plough in £450m but the company’s lenders didn’t think there was enough cash to see it through the lean winter months.
It required another £200m and when that couldn’t be raised privately, it turned to the government, which refused, just as it had with contractor Carillion to prop up a private company with taxpayers' money.
Thomas Cook’s chief executive took home £8m in pay and bonuses in the last four years and there will be an investigation into the conduct of directors. That will be little comfort to 21,000 Thomas Cook workers who are facing unemployment rather than a bit of holiday disruption.
Tears as Thomas Cook crew member's 22-year career in tatterspublished at 16:51 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Image source, PAPassengers flying into Manchester on the last Thomas Cook flight were told how one crew member had been with the airline for 22 years.
Flight TCX2643 arrived at Manchester Airport from Orlando at 08:30.
Passenger Elizabeth Evans, from Bury, Greater Manchester, was on the flight with her husband Chris. She said:
Quote MessageThe pilot just kept thanking the staff and the lead hostess thanked the pilot. It's a sad day for them. It was sad to see them crying as we were getting off. One of the staff has done 22 years. Now it's come to this.
'Heartwarming' message posted on Thomas Cook shop windowpublished at 16:48 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Image source, Mark NewbyThis was the "heartwarming" note that was posted on a Thomas Cook store in Sheffield earlier.
Mark Newby took the photo of the Fargate store in the city centre this afternoon.
The message, which appears to have been written by a former customer, thanked staff who had helped them book holidays.
It said: "My heart goes out to those who should be going to work today."
Repatriation 'running smoothly' - transport secretarypublished at 16:44 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
The government has held an emergency Cobra meeting to discuss its response to the collapse of Thomas Cook.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says the government will be running a “shadow airline” for the next two weeks to repatriate 150,000 Brits.
He says the Cobra meeting discussed the government’s response, which he says is “on track so far” and “running smoothly”.
The first nine replacement aircraft are in the air with passengers, with several thousand passengers due to arrive back in the UK today, he adds.
A cross government task force is also being set up to help the 9,000 employees losing their jobs, Mr Shapps says.
He stresses people should not come home early from their holidays but leave the day they had originally planned to, after checking the Thomas Cook website before leaving for the airport.
Cabin crew member found out news of collapse from passengerspublished at 16:39 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
BBC Radio Leicester
Image source, Ella WaineElla Waine, a member of Thomas Cook’s cabin crew, says she only found out the company had collapsed from passengers when the flight from Egypt she was working on landed in the UK this morning.
“When we landed a lot of passengers got their phones out and said, ‘look I’m really sorry but have you seen the news?’
“And then it was a complete heart to the stomach moment, it was like ‘Oh god, it’s actually happened,” the 19-year-old tells the BBC.
“There was so much speculation around it that we really thought we could pull through with this… it was really devastating.”
Ella says she is gutted to lose her “dream job” after joining the company in February and staff still don’t know whether they will be paid at the end of the month.
“I’m 19-years-old and I’ve been made redundant. That rarely happens to people my age to be honest so it’s a big shock,” she adds.
'We've been at Manchester Airport for 14 hours'published at 16:37 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
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End of twitter post'Our worst fears became a reality'published at 16:31 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Cameo island, Zakynthos
Martin Roffey from Devon was due to fly to Zakynthos, Greece for his wedding.
“I woke up and discovered our worst fears became a reality. My partner is in tears and is absolutely inconsolable.
“We’ve been together 17 years and engaged for nine of them. We booked our wedding in March last year and have slowly been paying for it, it cost in the region of £6-7,000.
“We planned the wedding via a planner we had through Thomas Cook, I've emailed them but only got a reply saying the account is no longer manned.
“We're absolutely devastated, our dreams for our big day are now left in ruins."
Nissan, Ghosn to pay US regulators in settlementpublished at 16:26 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Image source, Getty ImagesAnd now for a quick break from Thomas Cook ....
Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has agreed to pay US financial regulators, external $1m to resolve charges that he concealed from investors $140m in compensation he was to receive in retirement.
Nissan has also agreed to pay $15m.
The parties did not admit or deny the allegations.
Mr Ghosn is awaiting trial in Japan, where he is accused of under-reporting millions of dollars in salary and of using company funds for personal expenses. He has denied wrongdoing in that case.
Check your protectionpublished at 16:23 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Financial service trade body UK Finance has produced guidance for consumers on the collapse of Thomas Cook which can be found here, external.
Eric Leenders, managing director of personal finance at UK Finance said:
Quote MessageCustomers who are currently travelling with or scheduled to travel with Thomas Cook and have paid by credit and debit card are advised to check whether they are ATOL-protected in the first instance and if not then speak with their individual bank or card issuer.
Thomas Cook boss's pay and bonusespublished at 16:21 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
BBC data journalist Daniele Palumbo has prepared two graphs showing how much the pay and bonus of Thomas Cook's chief changed in the last few years...
Have you tried to rebook your holiday?published at 16:20 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Has your future holiday been hit by Thomas Cook's collapse?
Have you tried to rebook? Please tell us about your experience.
Email us at bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk
Nile Air offers help to stranded Thomas Cook customerspublished at 16:11 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
BBC Monitoring
The world through its mediaEgypt's privately-owned Nile Air has said it will fly Thomas Cook customers home after it was announced that the British travel agent had collapsed.
"Currently, there are British tourists spending their vacations in [the Red Sea resort of] Marsa Alam and Nile Air would fly all Thomas Cook customers home from Egyptian airports to Britain," state-owned website Al-Akhbar quoted an Egyptian aviation official as saying.
The official told the website that Thomas Cook used to fly eight times a month to Marsa Alam.
Jet2 flying Thomas Cook customers back from Menorcapublished at 16:10 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Meanwhile Jet2.com said its efforts to bring Thomas Cook customers back home start tonight with a flight from Menorca to East Midlands.
"We will continue to cooperate with the CAA in the coming days," the company said.
Customers can find out how to book on to repatriation flights through the CAA website: www.thomascook.caa.co.uk, external.
Mum in tears over daughter losing jobpublished at 16:01 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Jenny Whitby's daughter has worked for Thomas Cook for 13 years.
She is currently on a Thomas Cook holiday in Egypt and faces returning to the UK with no job.
'Check your insurance policies'published at 15:51 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
If Thomas Cook customers can't get compensation, their insurance may kick in, according to the Association of British Insurers. Mark Shepherd, assistant director, head of general insurance policy, at the ABI, said:
Quote MessageTravel insurance policies can provide back up if compensation cannot be accessed from ATOL cover, banks or credit card providers. In the first instance, customers should check their policies on what cover they have. Those with scheduled airline failure or end supplier failure should be able to get compensation for the cost of the flight. Where travel disruption is included, they will be covered for extra costs, such as additional hotel accommodation or the cost of new flights, where these are not recoverable from any other source
Flight-only customers not covered by ATOLpublished at 15:48 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Kevin Peachey
Personal finance reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesWhile future travellers on package deals will be covered by ATOL protection, some Thomas Cook customers on flight-only deals may need to find another route for a refund.
That will include making a claim via their travel insurance company.
But analysis by data information company Defaqto shows that 45% of travel insurance policies do not cover airline failure. Another 8% require customers to pay extra as it is optional.
For those without cover, the route will be making a claim via the provider of the credit, or possibly debit, card they used to pay for it.
'A lovely sunny day, but we're in the dark'published at 15:38 British Summer Time 23 September 2019
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Holidaymakers relaxing on a Lanzarote beach
Connor McKeown, in Lanzarote with his girlfriend, is hoping to get on a flight to Manchester this evening. He told the BBC even getting to the airport could be difficult.
Quote MessageI'm sat here on a lovely sunny day, but we're properly in the dark. The CAA have several replacement flights today confirmed within three hours of each other from Lanzarote to the UK. Upwards of 1,200 people are travelling to the airport. We've been to reception and they can't book us a taxi. I can only imagine other people have booked them already.