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Former Thomas Cook boss 'deeply sorry' for failing to save 'iconic brand'

Peter Fankhauser speaking at the House of Commons committee on Tuesday: PA
Peter Fankhauser speaking at the House of Commons committee on Tuesday: PA

The former Thomas Cook boss has said he is “deeply sorry” for the travel firm’s collapse.

Ex-chief executive Peter Fankhauser told MPs senior figures at the company regretted being unable to save the “iconic brand”.

Giving evidence to Parliament's business, energy and industrial strategy committee, Mr Fankhauser said: “I’m deeply sorry about this failure and I’m deeply sorry for the distress we caused to millions of customers who booked holidays with us and who were on holidays with us.

“I’m deeply sorry for our suppliers who were long-standing partners and who were loyal to us throughout this time.

Thomas Cook staff in Westminster on Tuesday (PA)
Thomas Cook staff in Westminster on Tuesday (PA)

“I’m especially sorry for all my colleagues who worked extremely hard and tirelessly to make Thomas Cook a better company.”

Mr Fankhauser said the summer heatwave of 2018 was the first major setback that eventually led to its collapse.

He explained the company did not respond quickly enough to changes.

“The primary focus was to pay down the debt by generating cash,” he added.

Peter Fankhauser arrives at Portcullis House on Tuesday (Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
Peter Fankhauser arrives at Portcullis House on Tuesday (Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

“We were not fast enough in transforming the business partly because we were overtaken by events outside our control but as well partly because we had so much debt service to pay to the bank... £1.2 billion is a huge amount and that was constraining us in the speed of transformation.”

The former boss insisted he worked “tirelessly” for the success of the company and didn’t get any bonus in 2018 and 2019. His 2017 bonus was about £750,000, of which around 30 per cent was in shares.

Committee chair Rachel Reeves asked whether some of his former bonuses could be clawed back by the insolvency service.

He responded: “I will consider what is right, but I’m not going to decide that today."

Thomas Cook ceased trading in September and had tried to persuade banks and creditors to accept a complicated restructuring that would involve wiping out the debt and injecting a further £900 million.

Banks were close to accepting that offer but at the last minute demanded a further £200 million “stand-by facility” in case its woes worsened. No rescue deal was agreed.

That left 9,000 UK jobs at risk and triggered the biggest ever peacetime repatriation by the UK Civil Aviation Authority to return home some 150,000 UK holidaymakers who were left stranded.

At the beginning of October, Hays Travel announced it will buy all of Thomas Cook’s 555 shops in a move which could save 2,500 jobs. It marked a “game-changing” expansion for Hays, which currently operates out of 190 shops and employs 1,900 staff UK-wide.

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