Picture by Metro co UK
Sunderland-based Hays announced that it plans to open all Thomas Cook shops with immediate effect. It will buy the shops from the official receiver which was appointed when Thomas Cook had collapsed last month.
As a part of the rapid expansion Hays has already offered jobs to 600 Thomas Cook staff and will be an important step for Hays which is known to current operate 190 shops across the UK.
The company was set up by John Hays 40 years ago and he said that it is a game changer for them , almost trebling the number of shops they have and double their workforce – and for the industry, which will get to keep some of its most talented people.
The business is run by him and his wife Irene has 1,900 staff and last year had sales of GBP 1 billion (USD 1.22 billion)
Irene Hays, chair of Sunderland-based Hays said that Thomas Cook was a much-loved brand and a pillar of the UK and the global travel industry. They will build on the good things it had – not least its people – and that will put them in even better stead for the future.
In the Sunderland headquarter there will be more than 100 new jobs while the rest will be in shops across the UK.
About 22,000 jobs were put at risk worldwide when Thomas Cook collapses and led to the biggest ever peacetime repatriation by the Civil Aviation Authority so that they can bring 150,000 British holidaymakers back to the UK.
According to David Chapman the official receiver described the sale to Hays Travel an important step in unravelleing the 178-year-old chain.
