Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Dominic Harris

Corfu gas deaths: Thomas Cook accused of putting profits ahead of customers' needs

Thomas Cook has a tendency to protect costs ahead of customer experience, a review into the travel firm's health and safety practices following the deaths of two children at one of its resorts found.

Bobby and Christi Shepherd died while on holiday in Corfu with their parents in October 2006.

The youngsters, aged six and seven, were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from a faulty boiler and died at the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel on the Greek holiday island.

The children died at the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel

An inquest into their deaths earlier this year found the tour operator had "breached their duty of care", and that they had been unlawfully killed.

A report into Thomas Cook's customer, health, safety, welfare and crisis management concluded that parts of the business were putting financial priorities ahead of customers' needs.

The report, carried out by former Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King, found that processes for crises or incidents which have a major impact on customers "is set up for success and appears to work well".

But it said: "Individual profit centres such as the 'airline' and 'destination management' (divisions) have a tendency to protect cost rather than maximise the customer experience.

"Their approach is closer to 'What's the minimum we can do to solve the problem?' rather than 'What should we do to make this as good as we can?'. This is a cultural as much as a financial challenge."

And while Thomas Cook has a "risk dashboard" process to identify key risks, "there is an over-emphasis on financial and reputational risk and less emphasis on customer consequences and outcomes than is appropriate", the report found.

Press Association

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.