Almost a fifth of staff at a Tayside and Fife travel agent are to lose their jobs, the firm announced today.
Hays Travel – which took over Thomas Cook’s estate last year – is to cut up to 878 jobs out of a total workforce of 4,500 people.
The company operates from seven branches in Tayside and Fife. It has a prominent shop at Dundee City Square, Brook Street in Broughty Ferry, Arbroath High Street and Perth’s High Street.
In Fife it has branches in St Andrews’ Bell Street, Unicorn Way in Glenrothes and Dunfermline’s Kingsgate Centre.
The travel company said the Government’s decision to advise against non-essential travel and reimpose quarantine requirements for holidays to Spain “triggered the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of holidays”.
Owners John and Irene Hays said: “We are devastated that after all of our efforts and the huge investment we’ve made we now face losing some of our valued employees, through no fault of their own.
“Following the decision to ban travel to Spain and the changes in furlough conditions coming at the same time, we have had no choice.
“We are also devastated for everyone who may lose their job and we will do all we can in consultations to help them, as we focus on retaining as many people as possible and rebuilding consumer confidence through our renowned friendly and knowledgeable customer service.”
In October Hays Travel announced that it had purchased all stores of Thomas Cook Group in the United Kingdom, which were all assumed to be closed due to the travel agency entering liquidation during the previous month.
The company took over the 550 retail locations, saving thousands of jobs.
Last November, when the former Thomas Cook shop reopened in Dundee, it was reported that all 16 members of staff had been retained.
