Thomas Cook customers and staff bracing themselves for dire company future

A growing sense of panic has spread among hundreds of thousands of Thomas Cook customers bracing themselves for the prospect of Britain’s oldest travel company going bust.

Many of its 150,000 British holidaymakers currently abroad as well as those who have booked holidays for 2020 inundated the company with requests for help amid fears of being stranded or losing thousands of pounds in advance payments.

The travel agent’s customer services teams were fielding a steady stream of telephone and social media requests for assistance to establish what would happen if the company did go out of business.

Couples who had booked for family and friends to attend weddings abroad were among those being forced to reconsider plans.

Meanwhile, there were increasing calls for more to be done to save the company, which needs an extra £200 million to stave off economic ruin.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association, which represents some of the 21,000 Thomas Cook workers, said the Government should be ready to assist with "real financial support".

Manuel Cortes, its general secretary, called for an urgent meeting with Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom in a bid to save a “company that must be rescued no matter what”.

He said in a letter: "It is incumbent upon the Government to act if required and save this iconic cornerstone of the British high street and the thousands of jobs that go with it.

"Thomas Cook can be a highly successful business and must be given every opportunity to flourish.”

He added: “No British Government in its right mind would countenance the loss of so many jobs and the prospect of just one major travel operator - TUI - controlling the mass market."

Although it is understood Thomas Cook approached the Government to try to obtain funds to plug its financial black hole, the response from ministers was believed to have been lukewarm.

However, loyal customers and staff of the 178-year-old business began online campaigns to encourage more to be done to save the company.

An online petition called “Save Thomas Cook” was launched by an employee, claiming the business, which has 9,000 staff based in Britain where it has 544 high street travel agents, insisted the “well known British brand” should not be allowed to fail. Within a few hours more than 6,000 people had signed the petition.

Then a crowdfunding site was set up where members of the public gave donations to try to offer tangible financials support for the cash-strapped company. Nearly £1,000 was donated in just a few hours, despite it being a tiny amount compared to its stated £200 million stated goal.

The extent of confusion surrounding the ailing company was illustrated starkly when hundreds of Thomas Cook passengers wrongly assumed the company had gone into administration after a flight from Antalya in Turkey to Glasgow was grounded shortly before its planned take off.

Footage emerged on social media showing holidaymakers sleeping outside the airport amid fears the flight had been cancelled because the company had gone bust.

Beka Whitelaw tweeted: “Update: 4am… 300 of us now kicked out of Antalya airport … no hotels - children, elderly and disabled stranded … are we to sleep in the street? Not good enough!”

A Thomas Cook spokeswoman said that in fact the flight was delayed due to a “technical fault” and hotels were laid on for passengers. The holidaymakers are due to return to Scotland today after parts were flown from Manchester to Turkey to repair the plane.