Former Thomas Cook boss Harriet Green gives up £3m following Corfu deaths scandal

Former Thomas Cook boss Harriet Green has pledged to donate a third of her multi-million pound bonus to charity amid a growing backlash against the firm over the deaths of two British children in Corfu. 

 

Green, chief executive between 2012 and 2014, came under fire after it emerged she was in line for up to a £10.3m bonus next month – despite widespread condemnation of the company over its response of the deaths.

 

She will now pay a third of the cash, up to £3.4m, to a charity nominated by the two children’s bereaved parents. Christi Shepherd, aged 7, and her younger brother Bobby, aged 6, died from carbon monoxide poisoning on a Thomas Cook-arranged holiday in 2006.   

 

“I have now reached out to the parents of Bobby and Christi Shepherd. On the basis that Thomas Cook are due to give me seven million shares, I have told the parents that I will donate one third of that to a charity of their choice,” Green said last night.

 

Thomas Cook faced a growing consumer boycott after it came to light the firm had received £1.5m in compensation, which was donated to charity, while the bereaved parents received £350,000 each. 

 

City A.M. reported the growing pressure on Tuesday after the Institute of Directors broke ranks to slam the firm’s “shameful behaviour”, while Labour leadership hopeful Mary Creagh, MP for the Shepherd’s Wakefield constituency, also criticised Green’s payout. 

 

The donation, first reported by Reuters, will depend on the amount of shares awarded to Green by the travel firm’s remuneration committee. 

 

The maximum number of shares she can get is 7.1m while the minimum is 4.1m, which would be worth £5.95m at last night’s share price.