Thomas Cook bows to pressure and gives Corfu compensation to charity
Thomas Cook has bowed to pressure and donated the compensation it received in connection with the tragic deaths of Robert and Christi Shepherd to charity.
Following weeks of widespread negative publicity and a major backlash against the company, it released a statement today saying £1.5 million, the full amount it received in claims against Louis Group in 2012 and 2013, will go to the international children’s charity Unicef.
Media reports said the figure paid to Thomas Cook was £3.5 million, but Thomas Cook today insisted £3 million was paid in total, half of which had to go to its insurers who had paid costs along the way on the basis that if compensation was received from the hotel it would be shared.
Group chief executive officer Peter Fankhauser said: "Thomas Cook has not in any way profited from our claim against the hotel owner. In late 2012, we brought a claim against the hotelier for breaching their contract to provide safe accommodation to our customers and to comply with all applicable laws which was decided in our favour.
"Today I have made arrangements for the full amount – £1.5million – to be donated in full to Unicef, the world’s leading children’s organisation.
"I believe this is the right thing to do and I apologise to the family for all they have gone through."
The statement came as a campaign was started to boycott Thomas Cook.
More than 2,000 people have endorsed the ‘Boycott Thomas Cook‘ page on Facebook, which calls for a permanent boycott following it’s ‘unforgivable treatment’ of the children’s parents.
Dozens of angry posts have been left on the Thomas Cook Facebook page, accusing the operator of being cynical, sly and ‘a disgrace’. Some called for top management to resign and many said they would never book with the company again.
According to the Times, the backlash knocked around £75 million off the value of the company’s shares as worried investors dumped stock.
A petition was created online calling for people to support the boycott, arguing that the family should get compensation.
The family’s local MP, Labour leadership candidate Mary Mary Creagh, had also called on Thomas Cook to make a ‘proper settlement’ to the parents.
The children died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty boiler while on a Thomas Cook holiday in Corfu with their father and step-mother.
Last week, an inquest ruled that Thomas Cook had breached its duty of care to the family.
West Yorkshire coroner David Hinchcliff said he would make a series of recommendations to the travel industry at a later date.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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