A meeting is to take place today between the chief executive of Thomas Cook and the parents of two children who died when on holiday in a Corfu hotel.
Peter Fankhauser is to meet Neil Shepherd and Sharon Wood, parents of Bobby and Christi Shepherd, aged six and seven, who were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning in 2006.
An inquest into the deaths at the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel concluded with a verdict of ‘unlawful killing’ last week.
Fankhasuer used yesterday’s half-year financial results announcement to publicly apologise for the company’s handling of the deaths.
He said: “I am deeply sorry as a father myself for the deaths of Bobby and Christianne.
“It is absolutely clear that we could have done things better, particularly in terms of our relationship with the family.
“We will not repeat the mistakes of the past by talking about the family and we want to see how we can help them to move on with their lives.”
When asked by a Barclays analyst about the impact of the recent negative press coverage, Fankhauser replied: “It’s still early but so far we don’t see any impact.”
A ‘Boycott Thomas Cook’ page on Facebook had been endorsed by more than 9,000 by this morning.
Meanwhile influential website Mumsnet has pulled Thomas Cook advertising.
Justine Roberts, Mumsnet chief executive said: “Mumsnet users – understandably – felt that we should stop promotional activity for Thomas Cook on the site, given the details that emerged during the inquest, so we took the decision to pull the campaign.
“Thomas Cook also wanted to call a halt to things, as they were getting lots of criticism on the site.”