Hays Travel ‘closes 10 former Thomas Cook shops’
Hays Travel has yet to confirm how many of the former Thomas Cook shops it re-opened have since been permanently closed.
It has been suggested that the travel agency chain has closed 10 of the 555 shops it acquired from the official receiver for £6.1 million following Thomas Cook’s collapse in September, some on a permanent basis.
It is not known whether these shops were among the 93 shops that were generating a total loss of £5 million under Thomas Cook’s ownership, nor whether they are in towns where Hays Travel already had its own shops prior to the acquisition.
When questioned by TravelMole today, a Hays spokeswoman said she was trying to establish the facts from chair Irene Hays, who is out of the country.
Hays Travel has been gradually re-opening Thomas Cook stores across the UK, re-hiring more than 2,330 of its 2,500 retail staff. Late last month, it announced a further 1500 new jobs and apprenticeships.
The new roles included 200 new posts at the company’s head office in Sunderland, 500 jobs handling foreign currency in each of the new Hays Travel stores and an apprentice for each of Hays Travel’s 737 branches over the coming months.
In the latest update on its website, Hays said it had reopened 470 Thomas Cook shops, with ‘just over 80’ left to open. It doesn’t say how many of the shops listed have since closed but it is understood there are no job losses as a result.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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