Thomas Cook closing Accrington call centre

Upwards of 260 Thomas Cook staff could face losing their jobs with the travel giant preparing to close its call centre in Accrington.

Operational and call centre staff that work for the Cresta, Swiss Travel Service and Tradewinds brands were informed of the news and have entered a 90-day consultation period.

Thomas Cook confirmed that the decision to close the call centre could result in as many as 260 redundancies but pledged to retain “as many people as possible” by offering redeployment or relocation opportunities, including a limited number of opportunities in homeworking.

The news comes on the back of a bad day for UK’s travel industry, on which nearly 700 redundancies were comes on a black day for the UK travel industry in which almost 700 redundancies were announced. The failure to rescue business-class airline Silverjet resulted in the loss of 420 jobs.

Thomas Cook defended the closure was necessary due to the “ever-changing and increasingly challenging market,” and was an integral part of its plan that included a reduction in the number of locations, a reduction in duplication and a lowering of operating costs.

Pete Constanti, executive director of Thomas Cook Holidays Division said: “The proposals we are making are in no way a reflection on our people or their performance. We very much hope many of them will opt to take advantage of our relocation and redeployment opportunities.”

The company assured the public that there would be no impact on the day-to-day business of the tour operating brands supported by the call centre.