Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

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Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

Postby Trina » Wed May 13, 2015 7:25 pm

This is a story that has been going on for years in my town.

The jury in the two-week inquest was told how the father of Christi and Bobby, Neil Shepherd, had booked the £2,000 holiday to the Greek island with Thomas Cook.

The family were put in a bungalow at the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel. On the third day of the trip in October 2006, Christi felt ‘unwell’ and Bobby tripped and fell after feeling dizzy. They went to bed at 11.30pm.

The children's mother, Sharon Wood, 44, sat in silence as the details of her children’s final hours were related to the inquest jury at Wakefield Coroner’s Court, nine years after the tragedy.

In the night Mr Shepherd, 46, went to his daughter when she was heard crying and Miss Beatson, who is now his wife, went to Bobby who was ‘whimpering’.

The couple do not remember anything else until they woke in hospital.

The children were found dead in a bungalow in the grounds of the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel by a chambermaid the next morning. Their father and his partner fell into a coma and were close to death when they were found. The couple recovered after emergency treatment.

Tests showed the family had suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. The cause was identified as the gas-fired hot water boiler in an outhouse next to the bedrooms.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z3a32hBUgU
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'When invited to apologise last week, the chief executive of Thomas Cook said "I have nothing to apologise for". Well, Mr Frankhauser, today this jury found that your staff failed to carry out proper monthly health and safety audits.



Such an awful story. When I first read into the Thomas Cook, I wondered why they were to blame and not the accommodation. Then I read, they should of been doing certain checks, procedures etc. That were not followed and done correctly.

I've read a lot of comments, and so many say its not Thomas Cooks fault.

Views? The full story is on the links.
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Re: Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

Postby Big17 » Wed May 13, 2015 7:36 pm

Heard this crop up a few times on the radio at work. Personally I think Thomas Cook and the accommodation reps are both to blame.
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Re: Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

Postby Va-Va-Voom » Wed May 13, 2015 7:50 pm

Well it isn't directly the agent's fault but they do have to cop some blame for neglecting to carry out their duty in the form of regulation check ups.

The CEO should have apologised, him saying he has nothing to apologise for is very disrespectful and insensitive. He is trying to absolve his company of any blame by keeping up the front that they are in no way culpable and therefore dont have to aplogise - which would be an acknowledgement of their error.
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Re: Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

Postby Callum » Wed May 13, 2015 7:53 pm

Yes
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Re: Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

Postby Zedie » Wed May 13, 2015 10:18 pm

Yes.

Travel agents push certain deals to people to make massive amounts of money and should have a responsibility to check these destinations to ensure they are above board.

It's not just the once they should be checking, if they're supposed to check the hotel regularly and they didn't, they are responsible.

What is the chief exec trying to say?

"Take your family to one of our Thomas Cook approved paradise destinations for the price of a small car, but if you comeback without your kids, we have f**k all to do with it"?
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Re: Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

Postby UFGN » Wed May 13, 2015 11:40 pm

Legally i think its complicated by the issue of whether TC was acting as an agent in this case, or as a tour operator. Did they simply act as a middle man and book the hotel on the customer's behalf, or had TC themselves block-booked the hotel and then operated a package to that hotel?

In any case i think TC are morally responsible, because of the fact that their customers trust them. That's one of the main reasons you would choose to book through a big travel agent... You expect certain standards from a big high street company like them. Anyone can book a hotel themselves but when you book through somewhere like TC you're paying for peace of mind.

Seems to me like TC want to charge a premium for implied peace of mind, but then try to hide behind the law when something goes wrong.

So in short, f**k you Thomas Cook. Their airline is dreadful as well.
Corinthians 15:57; But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus

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Re: Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

Postby Royal Gooner » Thu May 14, 2015 7:59 am

While they didn't own the hotel, their reps are certainly guilty of negligence because they have a duty to inspect where they are putting their customers.
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Re: Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

Postby StLGooner » Thu May 14, 2015 12:41 pm

Both at fault imo.
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Re: Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

Postby Reverend Gooner » Fri May 15, 2015 9:32 pm

Yes this is beyond what you could reasonably expect from Thomas Cook's position but you still have to apologise when this happened under your holiday experience, in other words this happened on your watch and what happened was the very worst of anything that could happen. To say "we have nothing to apologise for" is to put money or share prices (I won't say reputation as this stance has cost them as much as saying sorry would have) above all sense of moral or common decency.

It is like Mr Frankhauser went all in with Mr Corporate and forgot he was a human being. The accomodation should have done the checks themselves but once you have them under your wing those checks are also your responsibility as well. If he wanted to play the politics he should have apologised but shifted the blame further onto the hotel which I could understand but to be so obstinate in such circumstances is just bullshit and I hope their bottom line (which seems to be all they care about suffers because of it.

RIP Christie and Bobby


On another note my carbon monoxide detector is on my desk with me right now, when I moved house it is the first thing I bought. It is such a frightening thought that something so undetectably deadly could happen in your house. Please peeps, even if the risk is 0.01% of anything going wrong just get one, just in case.
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Re: Is the travel agent to blame for 2 kids dying?

Postby Trina » Sat May 16, 2015 7:47 am

^^ You've just reminded me. I used to get those you stick on the wall and it has to stay a certain colour. I binned it the other week as I've had it a while. I've just bought an LED one off ebay.
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