{UAH} THOMAS COOK AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILTY

WBK,

What do you make of Thomas Cook;s climb down in this tragic case where
two kids died of carbondioxide poisoning in a hotel in Corfu while on
holiday? For 9 years Thomas Cook stuck to lawyers' advice and refused
to show any compassion to the bereaved family. They would not even say
sorry because they feared what the possible legal implications would
be. To make it even worse, when the case came to court, Thomas Cook
was awarded damages and costs of £3.5 million against the hotel in
which the children died,whereas the parents were awarded only
£350,000, most of which was taken up by the costs of litigation- they
were forced to sell their home to fund the civil action. This is
because under commom law, the death of children does not attract much
compensation as there is no way of proving how much they would have
earned if they grew up and became working adults. The table turned
against Thomas Cook a month ago when a Coroner's court in the UK found
against Thomas Cook and declared that it still had a duty of care to
the parents, even though the individuals responbsible had been
prosecuted and punished for criminal negligence and the hotel chain
had paid compensation.. The court held that Travel Agencies can not
just wash their hands off their customers once they have sold them
expensive holidays. Their duty of care persists and is never
terminated by the fact that the Holiday Company has sub-contracted its
obligations to another party. This case soon became a cause celebre in
the UK with Thomas Cook in the firing line of social media anger and
disgust. There was a massive boycott campaign against the company, its
shares fell in the stock market, and it soon gave away the £3,5
million compensation to UNICEF. This was not enough for the social
media and the fire kept burning. Yesterday, Thomas Cook cheif
Executive personally met the parents and made a public apology to
them. They agreed to refund all the legal costs and expenses the
parents incurred during the litigation and for the past 9 years as
they campaigned for justice for their children, Thomas Cook further
agreed to give undisclosed compensation to the parents for their grief
and suffering, and also to give undisclosed ddonations to 6 charities
of the parent's choice. This case demonstrates the power of social
media and sometimes merely following legal advicemay not be the
appropriate course of action when a tragedy of this magnitude occurs.

George Okello

Thomas Cook: Our expert panel assesses the company's handling ...
www.prweek.com/.../thomas-cook-expert-panel-assesses-companys-handling-
tragedy‎Cached
2 days ago ... Thomas Cook bears all the hallmarks of a company about
to implode under .... to
the media recently or understood the power of social media.

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