News

Jobs under threat as Thomas Cook plan to cut workers

By Jennie Slevin
March 06, 2013

Plans to close nearly 200 high street stores and axe 2,500 jobs in the UK and Ireland may go ahead as Thomas Cook enters into a tense consultation.

Workers in High Street, Bracknell and Market Place, Wokingham may be threatened as travel operator bosses meet today (Wednesday) to decide the best way to evolve the business.

Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook UK & Ireland’s CEO, said: “Thomas Cook is a much loved brand that needs to make the proposed changes to secure our future and provide continued employment for many thousands across the UK and better meet the needs of our customers going forward.

“It is never easy to make decisions that impact directly on our people, but we also owe it to our customers to operate efficiently and ensure that when they book their holiday with us our administrative costs are as low as possible."

A spokesman from the company added that details of affected stores would be released following the consultation.

| Submit Comments | View Comments (4)

« Previous Story | Next Story »

Most recent user comments 4 of 4

@Br... My comment about spellchecker would have made sense before the text of the article was changed.

Times change. When I've used Thomas Cook in the past, my brief was Pool - Sun - Inexpensive. I too like to make sure my money is well spent so I like to research using the internet. I can see a street view of the location and vitually wander round the resort to see if it's to my taste and within walking distance of commercial centres and the beach. A one-to-one in store experience can be nice, however also difficult to negotiate as you only have one supplier and ultimately they're after your hard earned cash. For forex, I use the internet. Collecting Euro notes from ICE Heathrow today and you'll get 1.15 to the Pound. Thomas Cook give 1.108

Beef Cake Argh!
07/03/2013 at 10:07

The internet is hardly to thank for spell checkers, nor are spell checkers relevant to this article. I had a spell checker on my never-connected monochrome laptop, using WordPerfect.

Back on subject, I actually prefer going into high street branches to discuss holiday plans; they give you immediate attention, answer your questions, reassure you about travel restrictions and give you the personal touch. if I'm about to spend a good grand with a travel firm I'd like a one-to-one chat with someone who knows what they're talking about. I also believe Thomas Cook give their customers cheaper rates on forex.

Same for any high priced product or service.

I don't need someone giving me advice buying DVDs, spanners, books, bin bags or pens, but I do need someone to be there for me when I want to buy a car, send a parcel, book a holiday, or when I want to get fitted for a suit.

In the age of the internet shopping experience there are some companies that need staff on hand, in person, and some that don't. Thomas Cook fall into my first category.

Br
07/03/2013 at 09:29

Beef, it’s a sign of our times when people can’t or don’t punctuate let alone spell check or use capital letters. I am useless and so generally write in MS Word first and then paste. It only takes a few extra seconds but that’s obviously too long for most and so we land up with the culture of accepting people are either illiterate or just plain lazy.

HK, bracknell
06/03/2013 at 19:28

Hardly a surprise considering that their customers can do everything on the internet. The internet is great - it taught me when to use the word stores instead of stored and not to rely on a quick spell check before publishing my work.