Thomas Cook plans to axe 195 stores

THOMAS Cook employees will find out this afternoon if our Grimsby store is one of 195 facing the axe.

The leading travel agent – which employs 15,000 people and has 1,069 high street stores – today confirmed 2,500 full-time posts will be cut if the proposed changes go ahead.

A spokesman for the firm said: "We are also proposing a number of changes to the management of core stores and certain roles within the large store network."

Among the other proposals are:

• Potentially cutting a number of administrative and managerial roles at head offices in Peterborough and Preston, whilst proposing the closure of its Accrington office.
• Changing some terms and conditions in order to make further efficiencies, thereby safeguarding additional roles.

The spokesman added: "The need to evolve the UK business has been a clearly stated goal, accelerated by the appointment of Peter Fankhauser, an experienced Thomas Cook leader as UK CEO.

"The UK business needs to reduce cost to ensure back-office costs are not passed on to customers and that the necessary operational changes are made to reflect  evolving customer needs, and purchasing requirements.

"A number of our stores do not meet the performance targets of the business, and are in communities where Thomas Cook has more than one retail outlet.

"This consultation aims to address excess capacity, without compromising the omni-channel customer experience."

Mr Fankhauser, added: "It is never easy to make decisions that impact directly on our people, but we also owe it to our customers to shape the business effectively and ensure that, when they book their holiday with us, our administrative costs are as low as possible.

"We are in consultation with our unions and employee representative bodies to minimise the impact of these changes and I am speaking personally to all employees today to provide information and support through this period of consultation."