Thomas Cook’s two stores within the district have closed with immediate effect after the travel agent went bust today.

The world’s oldest travel company officially collapsed overnight (Monday, September 23) after 178 years in business, putting 22,000 at risk across the globe.

Over the weekend, the firm held talks to save the company, but these failed leading to a statement being issued at 2am, before the stock market opened at 8am.

Thomas Cook had branches established in Epping High Street and High Road in Loughton leaving eight of their respected travel agents potentially unemployed.

Employees at some of the shops across the UK had already met with admin representatives who told them if they would be made redundant.

Epping Forest Guardian:

Thomas Cook travel store on Epping High Street

Thomas Cook's chief of tour operating Will Waggott said: "Today's announcement reflects the wider challenges seen on the high street, with more and more customers choosing to book online.

"These measures will help us to drive greater efficiencies across Thomas Cook so that we relentlessly focus our resources in those areas that give us the greatest opportunity to make a difference to customers in our core holiday offering.

"Looking ahead, we will be working to ensure that Thomas Cook is fit for the future, putting a rigorous focus on costs in a competitive environment while giving customers more reasons to holiday with the strongest brand in travel."

It's estimated that around 150,000 Brits have now been stranded abroad, customers have been advised not to cut short their holiday without checking information on the website.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has begun the process of bringing those abroad home Atol protected or not, from now until Sunday, October 6.

Other airlines unclosing Virgin, Jet2, British Airways and easyJet have confirmed they are sending additional planes to help bring holidaymakers home.

Stansted Airport has confirmed that all Thomas Cook flights have been cancelled, with the final official flight from Orlando to Manchester touched down at 8:52am.

London Stansted Airport have also released a statement in the early hours of the morning, saying: "We regret to inform passengers that all Thomas Cook flights have been cancelled after the company went into administration this morning.

"Passengers with outbound flights booked today should not travel to the airport.

"The government has put measures in place to facilitate return flights for these people still abroad."

Epping Forest Guardian:

Thomas Cook was the oldest travel company in the world, launching back in 1841

The Chief Executive of Thomas Cook, Peter Frankhauser, said: "We have worked exhaustively in the past few days to resolve the outstanding issues on an agreement to secure Thomas Cook's future for its employees, customers and suppliers.

"Although a deal had been largely agreed, an additional facility requested in the last few days of negotiations presented a challenge that ultimately proved insurmountable.

"It is a matter of profound regret to me and the rest of the board that we were not successful. I would like to apologise to our millions of customers, and thousands of employees, suppliers and partners who have supported us for many years.

"Despite a huge uncertainty over recent weeks, our teams continued to put customers first, showing why Thomas Cook is one of the best-loved brands in travel.

"Generations of customers entrusted their family holiday to Thomas Cook because our people kept our customers at the heart of the business and maintained our founder's spirit of innovation.

"This marks a deeply sad day for the company which pioneers package holidays and made travel possible for millions of people around the world."

If you are a Thomas Cook customer or member of staff who is from Epping Forest and would like to share your story, please call our press team on 01923 216 360.

If you or anyone you know that’s been affected by the collapse of Thomas Cook, visit the CAA’s special website https://thomascook.caa.co.uk/

Anyone scheduled to fly to the UK in the next 48 hours or have problems with their accommodation are can call 0300 303 2800 or +44 1753 330 330 from abroad.