Thomas Cook collapse: Whip-round raises £650 for flight crew

Passengers onboard a Thomas Cook flight raised more than £650 for its cabin crew after hearing the company had collapsed.

Elaine Kerslake, of Pontypridd, was on the flight home from Dalaman, Turkey, with her friends and family, when she organised the whip-round.

She said seeing how upset staff were, and knowing they were unlikely to get paid, had sparked her response.

The firm collapsed on Monday putting 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide.

About 9,000 jobs in the UK were threatened and it triggered the biggest peacetime repatriation, which will bring 150,000 British holidaymakers home in a flight programme costing £100m.

Mrs Kerslake said she and her party were "penned up" for "hours and hours" at the airport because the fuel company did not want to supply the plane for fear it would not get paid.

They then had another two-and-a-half-hour wait on the plane before it could take off.

"I said to my friend, I'm going to do a whip-round," Mrs Kerslake said, adding: "My friend gave me a tenner and off I went."

Her son, Nicky, filmed her revealing the gesture to staff. In the video, which has been posted on social media, one crew member is heard tearfully thanking passengers.

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"They were all sobbing. It was awful, to see everyone so upset. They couldn't speak," Mrs Kerslake said.

"They still came out to get us home, they've done that for my family.

"They weren't getting paid, they didn't have to, but they wanted to see it through... I can't thank them enough."