The travel agent went into compulsory liquidation on September 23, leaving hundreds of thousands of people stranded abroad or with their holidays cancelled. It has also left thousands of employees out of a job and worrying about how they will pay their bills. In Channel 4 documentary ‘Thomas Cook: Rise and Fall of a Travel Agent’, former aircraft engineer David Moore said he found it “hard to accept”.
He claimed employees had been receiving “positive messages’ from the company that lulled them into a false sense of security about the firm’s finances.
He said: “Thomas Cook – you just felt like it was too big, too big of a brand, too strong of a name to ever go under like that.
“We were always getting told positive messages.
“We were getting direct messages from Peter Fankhauser and the Board of Directors saying ‘it’s not really as bad as what the press are making it out to be’.”
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Former Thomas Cook claims the company sent e-mails denying press reports (Image: GETTY / CHANNEL 4)
Holidaymakers stranded abroad (Image: GETTY)
He added: “That’s why it’s just so hard to accept.”
Mr Fankhauser was the CEO of Thomas Cook from 2014 until its bankruptcy.
The Swiss businessman apologised to colleagues and customers but blamed banks for the collapse of the business.
He claimed they had requested “an additional facility in the last few days of negotiations that presented a challenge that ultimately proved insurmountable”.
Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook CEO (Image: GETTY)
However, Mr Moore, who has worked at the company for 11 years, blamed Thomas Cook bosses for the situation.
He said: “I am sure someone can tell me, but I don’t know how a company that turns over £9billion a year can be in such a bad state of affairs.
“I think for a long time the people at the top have failed us by making bad business decisions – that, ultimately, was the demise of the company, I think.”
Mr Moore described to the documentary the impact his job loss will have on him and his family.
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David Moore with partner Natalie (Image: CHANNEL 4)
Holidaymakers were left stranded or with their holidays cancelled (Image: GETTY)
Firstly, there is the work he has completed but has not been paid for, despite the Government compensation.
He said: “I am owed near enough double what I have actually been paid.
“But I’m never going to see it because the company’s in insolvency, so I have to just suck it up and take it.”
He and his partner Natalie have two young boys to take care of and are now facing the prospect of him having to take work away from his family.
Mr Moore said: “I just don’t want to do it. It’s as simple as that. It’s the means to an end, we’ve got to accept that maybe, that’s the reality that we are faced with now.
“But it’s not where I want to be, I want to be as close to them as possible.”
He recalled the moment he became overcome with emotion – he arrived home after being told he was being made redundant without pay and his young son came out of the house shouting ‘Daddy!’
Mr Moore said what upset him was the knowledge that his son did not “have a care in the world” and had no idea the disaster that had just happened for his family.
Former Thomas Cook employees are angry at the situation (Image: GETTY)
He said he sat down on the sofa and “just broke down”.
Around 21,000 worldwide workers have been left without jobs, including 9.000 UK staff.
Thomas Cook declined to comment but a spokesperson for the Official Receiver said: “When companies enter liquidation, the Official Receiver has a duty to investigate the cause of failure and generally, the promotion, formation, business, dealings and affairs of those companies, as well as looking at the conduct of the directors.”