Company records show that senior directors raked in more than £20million in pay, benefits and bonuses over the last five years. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has suggested bonuses could be clawed back during the failed company’s insolvency process. Around 22,000 staff lost their jobs – including 9,000 in the UK – after the travel firm collapsed. Many former staff face a desperate search to find homes and jobs, having worked abroad for so long that they have “nowhere to go back to”.

The Civil Aviation Authority said 46,000 people were flown home in the first three days of the operation to bring back 150,000 stranded Britons.

But staff staying to help with the biggest peacetime repatriation fear they might not be paid.

They will have to claim the money once all customers return.

Staff were told last Friday “it was business as usual, everything is fine. If customers call, just tell them that”.

But they received the news by email on Monday from chief executive Peter Fankhauser to say they were being made redundant. Some staff said the announcement details were copied from a Government website.

Mr Fankhauser, 58, who became Thomas Cook’s CEO in 2014, pocketed £8.3million in pay, benefits and bonuses until 2018 – including a £2.9million share award in 2015. Chief financial officers Michael Healy and Bill Scott have together been paid around £7million since 2014.

Kathryn Akroyd, 25, who helped customers with holiday problems on a 24/7 helpline, criticised bosses. She said: “If they walked in I wouldn’t be able to look them in the face. When I read about their bonuses, I just thought ‘greedy’. Those bonuses you took could have saved the company.”

She told how some holidaymakers had a whip round for employees.

“I have got a friend who is a rep in Zante. A guest in the hotel went around putting a note under everyone’s door saying these four reps have nothing to go back to,” she said. “[Staff] all walked into the hotel to a round of applause and all got handed a bunch of envelopes that had money and condolences in.”

Mrs Akroyd said: “It is heartbreaking. Thomas Cook was the only company I wanted to work for.When I was doing travel and tourism at college, they came in to speak to us, told us all about the jobs.”

She wanted to apologise for telling customers that their holidays will be fine. “I feel like I lied to them,” she said. “I want to issue an apology to everyone I’ve said it will be fine to, because we were being told it was fine, and we were being kept in the dark as well.”

Ethan Arnill, who joined the firm from college at 18, slammed Mr Fankhauser’s email. He said: “A personalised email saying ‘thanks for all your help’ would have been much better than copying and pasting from a Government website.

“A lot of our colleagues have been working abroad for years, they don’t have a home to go back to.

“When all our stuff gets sent back to our home address, they have not got a home address to send it to.”

Source: Read Full Article