Employee of Melton’s Thomas Cook shop says collapse is ‘completely heartbreaking’

Three full time members of staff lost their jobs at the Market Place shop, which has been a familiar place for visitors to the town centre for decades.

An employee, who identified herself only as Amelia, contacted the Melton Times to say how upset she and her colleagues were that customers had lost their holidays and some had forfeited the money they put down for them.

Amelia said: “I’m devastated by the news.

“It isn’t just losing a job, it’s losing a family.

“Thomas Cook was an amazing company to work for and I made some amazing friends along the way.

“I would like to thank all of our customers for their loyalty and support over the years.

“I’m incredibly sorry so many of them have been affected by this news.”

And Amelia added: “We all found out the news at the same time as our customers did which was completely heartbreaking.

“Up until Sunday night I thought we would make it through like we always have.

“Top priority now is to find another job as soon as possible so I can pay my bills.”

The Melton shop was closed on Monday and had a sign on the window simply stating: ‘This shop has been closed with immediate effect. All customer enquiries should be directed to the website thomascook.caa.co.uk for further information’.”

An attempted financial rescue package failed over the weekend and all the UK companies in the Thomas Cook group have ceased trading, including Thomas Cook Airlines.

All holidays and flights provided by these companies have been cancelled and all the retail shops, including one at Syston, have closed.

Customers have been told that they should get their money back if they have pre-booked package holiday because they were ATOL-protected.

The government is currently chartering flights to bring home stranded holiday-makers who had booked with Thomas Cook.