Cullybackey Thomas Cook customer 'just wants to get home'
- Published
A Cullybackey holidaymaker has said he does not know if he will get home from Tunisia as planned due to a pay dispute between Thomas Cook and his hotel.
Paul Dunn is on holiday with his wife, Gael, at the Les Orangers beach resort in the town of Hammamet in Tunisia.
On Saturday night, guests at the hotel, which is owed money by the tour operator, were prevented from leaving the resort for a time.
Thomas Cook is holding emergency talks about how to raise £200m.
It needs the extra funds to avoid collapse.
No official statement has been released by Thomas Cook, but the company is telling customers via Twitter to carry on as normal and that if it collapses, all package holidays will be covered as they are Atol-protected.
The Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, says British holidaymakers will not be left stranded if Thomas Cook collapses
Speaking to BBC News NI from Hammamet, Mr Dunn said things had been "very" tense at the resort on Saturday night.
"We were coming out of dinner and noticed a wee bit of a commotion going on around reception and then found out some folks from Manchester were not allowed to leave," he said.
"They locked the gates then, a short time after that, stopped our wi-fi.
"Then about 200 people started to gather. Two poor reps from Thomas Cook came in to try and sort it
"The place was very tense."
Paul Dunn has been on holiday in Tunisia for 10 days
Mr Dunn said the Thomas Cook representatives contacted someone from their management team.
"Basically Thomas Cook hadn't paid the hotel, so they were holding the people in because they wanted paid and so they were billing the customers," he added.
"A guy from [Thomas Cook] management did come down and paid them so the Manchester folk were allowed to leave."
Uncertainty
Mr Dunn is due to leave Tunisia on Wednesday, but said the next few days remain uncertain.
"I know today there was a coach coming in and they got diverted somewhere else, they weren't letting anyone in the hotel.
"Everyone's on their phones looking at news reports.
"We're not being told anything, I did contact Thomas Cook by email and they told me the situation with the hotel was resolved at the moment, but that was only as in last night.
"So I don't know what's happening over the next day or two."
As for his holiday, Mr Dunn said it had been "really good" until Saturday night.
"The place, the people are lovely.
"We were really enjoying it. We've been here for 10 days and have really enjoyed it, until that uncertainty. I just want to get home."
The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) union, which represents Thomas Cook staff, is urging the government to step in with a bail out amid fears the company's collapse could leave about 150,000 British tourists stranded.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said a contingency plan is in place to make sure no-one is stranded.
But he dampened hopes of a government rescue bid for the firm.
Mr Raab told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show ministers did not "systematically step in" when businesses went under unless there was "a good strategic national interest".
The BBC has contacted both the Les Orangers resort and the British embassy in Tunisia but has not yet received a response from either.
- Published22 September 2019
