Thomas Cook has made a “sincere and heartfelt apology” to the parents of two children who died of carbon monoxide poisoning at a holiday cottage in Corfu and offered them “a financial gesture of goodwill”.
The apology came as it was reported that an electrician found guilty in 2010 of the unlawful killing of the two children was still working for the Louis Corcyra Beach hotel where they died.
It also emerged that the manager of the hotel at the time of the deaths of Christi and Bobby Shepherd in 2006 had since worked for another hotel available to book through Thomas Cook.
Georgios Chrysikopoulos had been working as general manager at the Mitsis Laguna hotel in Crete since 1 April this year, ITV News reported.
Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook’s chief executive, who spoke privately with the children’s parents, Neil Shepherd and Sharon Wood, on Thursday afternoon, said the discovery had made him feel “physically sick”.
Fankhauser said Mitsis Hotel Group had dismissed Chrysikopoulos this week. A health and safety audit has since taken place at the Mitsis Laguna hotel. Thomas Cook ordered an investigation into the hiring of Chrysikopoulos, and then discovered that electrician Christos Louvros was still employed at Louis Corcyra. Senior management have requested his removal from the post with immediate effect.
No UK customers have been booked into the Louis Corcyra hotel since the deaths of the Shepherd children. Thomas Cook Netherlands has withdrawn the hotel from its books and offered 19 holidaymakers the chance to move hotels.
Fankhauser said: “I felt physically sick when I heard that our hotel partner made this appointment without our knowledge. It is unacceptable that the people convicted of the deaths of Robert and Christianne have been exposed to Thomas Cook customers.
“We will not do business with any hotel that exposes our customers to these people. Some hoteliers thought it was acceptable – we absolutely disagree.”
The company has also agreed to meet the costs of the inquest into the children’s deaths, as well as the financial gesture of goodwill made to the parents, who have asked Thomas Cook to demolish the bungalow where the tragedy occurred and build a children’s playground.
The children, aged six and seven, from Horbury, near Wakefield, died after they were overcome by fumes from a defective boiler while on a Thomas Cook holiday.
At a press conference held after the meeting with Fankhauser, Wood said: “Nothing can give us back our children or the carefree lives we once led. No one can erase the lifelong pain for Christi and Bobby’s family.”
But she said it was time to “accept we cannot change the past and that it may be time to look to the future”. She added: “We have asked that Thomas Cook push forward our request to demolish bungalow 112 so that it can be a lasting tribute in the form of a playground in the spot where Christi and Bobby died.”
The parents paid tribute to their lawyer, Leslie Thomas QC, who they said had supported “the underdog in a fight against a corporate giant”.
The pair said they were looking forward to some “normality in our lives … in the sure and certain knowledge that we have done everything we could to get justice for Christi and Bobby”.
Thomas said Thursday was the “first time in this tragedy that Thomas Cook have done the right thing … they listened to the heartbreaking accounts from my clients and heard how their company effectively destroyed their lives”.
He added: “Mr Fankhauser apologised to my clients face to face for all the mistakes he and his company made over the last nine years. He kept his word and gave a sincere and heartfelt apology.”
Thomas said the public, the media and those who tweeted and blogged about the case should take much of the credit for the company’s change of heart.
In a statement issued by Thomas Cook after the meeting, Fankhauser said: “I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet and listen to Sharon Wood and Neil Shepherd. Having heard what they have had to say today, my heart breaks for them. This is a meeting which should have happened when I first took over as chief executive in November and frankly something Thomas Cook should have done nine years ago.
“Following our meeting today we came to a mutual understanding which I hope will enable them to move on with their lives.”
Thomas Cook faced widespread criticism following the conclusion of an inquest into the children’s deaths last week, when a jury gave a conclusion of unlawful killing and said the travel firm had “breached their duty of care”.
The inquest foreman read out a series of conclusions which acknowledged that Thomas Cook had been misled by the hotel about its gas supply, but also stated that the holiday company’s health and safety audit of the complex was inadequate.
Several former Thomas Cook employees went into the witness box and exercised their legal right not to answer questions during the inquest. Fankhauser told the inquest he felt deeply sorry for what had happened but said there was no need to apologise “because there was no wrongdoing by Thomas Cook”.
As criticism of Thomas Cook’s stance mounted, and after Wood and Shepherd said the company’s reputation appeared to be worth more than their children’s lives, on Monday it donated £1.5m of the £3m compensation it received from the Corfu hotel to the UN children’s organisation Unicef.