Thomas Cook’s response to the deaths of two young children Christi and Bobby Shepherd, who died while on holiday in Corfu in 2006 of carbon monoxide poisoning from a defective boiler, has been under intense media scrutiny in the past few weeks.
At the inquest into their deaths this month, nearly 8 years after the tragedy, the Coroner ruled the only conclusion the jury could reach was unlawful killing. This is unsurprising since in 2010 three people working at the hotel where the children were saying, were convicted of manslaughter in a Greek court. Eight other people were cleared of manslaughter including two Thomas Cook travel reps.
Although the inquest jury also found that Thomas Cook ‘had breached its duty of care’ it will not face any criminal sanction. Even if the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 had been in place at the time, it does not apply to deaths abroad. Similarly the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 does not apply.
It has now emerged the Company received £3.5m compensation from the hotel for lost profits and legal costs relating to the deaths, an amount 10 times greater than the compensation paid to the family. Its chief executive between 2012 and 2014 has come under fire for the way in which the company handled matters during her tenure, exacerbated by the news she is likely to receive a 10m bonus.
The problem for Thomas Cook has been its failure to apologise. During the inquest the company’s line was that it regretted the deaths but that it had done nothing wrong and so had nothing to apologise for. However a week after the inquest Peter Fankhauser, the current chief executive, told the BBC: “I am deeply sorry about the tragic death of Bobby and Christi Shepherd…From the deepest of my heart I am sorry. It is clear that there are things that we as a company could have done better in the past nine years.”
Saying ‘sorry’ does not amount to an admission of guilt or even necessarily an acceptance of civil liability – it is a natural human reaction to a tragic event. The failure of a company to show compassion in the wake of a disaster is likely to be criticised particularly in this age of social media. Arguably the fall out from the inquest has inflicted just as much reputational damage upon the company as a criminal conviction would have done.
Mike Appleby is a partner at Bivonas Law
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I believe Panorama did a programme on the deaths where the term ‘health and safety’ was used ubiquitously. As Michael has pointed out, the media have jumped all over Thomas Cook for their unsympathetic handling of this case. All they seem interested in is their own reputation which ironically is in tatters. They will recover of course and I doubt their huge profits will be affected in the long term – shame that it is.
Thank you for this article and the point you have made that ‘Arguably the fall out from the inquest has inflicted just as much reputational damage upon the company as a criminal conviction would have done.’
Many large corporations seem in our experience to simply deny everything. This has become an automatic reaction from many large organisations. Yet organisations that provide victim support such as CO-Gas Safety want to make sure that these tragedies don’t happen again and the best way to do that is to examine every complaint about safety, every injury and death to find out why it happened and then think of solutions and implement them. Such a course of action would be surely in everyone’s best interests?
I believe that the hue and cry is as a result of typical sensationalism red top media coverage. Of course TC deserved the payout it is commensurate with their potential losses, the sum total donated to charity. The uproar that the parents should get more money is ridiculous, why should they? it wont bring their kids back. I wonder how much if any these parents donated to charity in their kids names??? Still thats the problem with the world today hand wringing anguish has replaced pragmatic common sense
Hue and cry that is unbelievable and callous to the extreme anyone who has suffered the death of a child needs greater respect yes the money will not bring the children back but on the other hand why should have Thomas Cook received compensation.
Re: Thomas Cook.
Of course the deaths of the two children was a tragic accident although a preventable one. Thomas Cook just happened to be the Tour Operator in this case, the same hotel / resort and likely the same accommodation was also used by other Tour Operators, so it was the “bad” luck of the draw that Thomas Cook clients suffered.
The Tour Operator of course has to take reasonable steps in ensuring the safety of its clients. The Hotel / Resort Chain must ensure that for example, all electrical / gas / air con / water services are well maintained, certificated where necessary and any faults reported and repaired.
Have any of the other Tour Operators been chastised ? after all they ALSO used this accommodation.
Three Hotel Staff were jailed in 2010 for these deaths, they having failed in their duties.
The family would / should have made a claim on their insurance of course, its hardly adequate compensation – money never is !!!!!! or IS it ?
Thomas Cook would also, quite rightly, claim on their insurance for loss of income / profit / damage to reputation etc.
Yes …. Thomas Cook could / should have dealt with this matter far better but of course cannot admit liability, indeed one assumes that they did not consider themselves liable.
I feel that in a period of “slow news” – Thomas Cook have been easy prey, but lets consider ALL cases where holidaymakers die :
Travelling to / from Ports Airports …..under own steam / on a Train, Coach etc
Food Poisoning
Water Sports Accident
Falling from balconies
Murdered !! …………………………….I could go on !! is it ALWAYS the Tour Operators Fault ? I think not
And now, after all these years, the accommodation is being destroyed !!! it was not the home of Fred West was it ?
Disgusting and despicable behaviour. Last time I have any dealings with this thoughtless outfit.
In the UK we seem to hate anything or anyone who is successful. All logic and common sense flies out the window. TC took reasonable steps and even did their own examination of the property. What more are they expected to do? Fly out their own gas and electrical engineers to examine every property every year? Get a grip on reality. I don’t understand compensation for the parents. If my daughter died and I was given compensation, how could I enjoy spending it. The very though makes me feel sick!!!