Peterborough: Thomas Cook Job Cuts

7 March 2013, 15:09 | Updated: 7 March 2013, 15:20

Travel firm Thomas Cook's confirmed two stores in the region could shut as well as the potential loss of 350 staff at its Peteborough head office.

The company announced yesterday it's planning to cut 2500 jobs across the UK and close 195 travel agency stores. The outlets in Haverhill and Huntingdon have been earmarked for closure.

The TSSA travel union condemned Thomas Cook for "slash and burn" policies. Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA, said:

"We are shocked and angry at the scale of the job losses at Thomas Cook which now seems to be engaged in a race to the bottom of the travel market. "This constant policy of slash and burn, with the axing of 1 in 4 stores is simply self defeating. "The company needs new products if it is to come to terms with the age of the internet and prosper in the 21st century."

Peterborough MP Stewart Jackson told Heart:

"I'm enormously disappointed by this news and local people will rightly be concerned at what the future holds for Thomas Cook, which is one of the city's blue chip companies. "I will seeking an urgent meeting with the senior management at Thomas Cook to see if I can help in any way and to be reassured that everything can be done to avoid compulsory job losses."