Holidaymakers say they have been left in the dark following the collapse of the Thomas Cook Group plc.

iomtoday.co.im has been contacted by anxious customers of a Manx travel agent, which has closed as a result of Thomas Cook’s demise.

Freedom Travel Group Ltd, which has a shop in the island and was part of the Thomas Cook Group, has gone into liquidation and its membership of ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) has been cancelled.

As we went to press we learned that Freedom Travel’s charter flight to Majorca on Saturday has been cancelled.

This week Freedom Travel’s shop on Strand Street, Douglas, was shut. Its phones were not answered and the website made no mention of any problems.

An ABTA spokesperson said: ’As part of the demise of Thomas Cook, the Freedom Travel Group has ceased trading and, as such, its agents should not be taking any further payments for bookings.

’We understand that these agents will wish to assist customers and we recommend they visit abta.com/thomascook for further advice.’

Signs in the window of Freedom Travel’s shop say it has closed to assist holidaymakers already abroad or who have holidays booked through the company.

But customers who have contacted us say they have not heard from Freedom Travel and are unsure what happens next.

They include passengers who were booked on the company’s direct flights from the island to Majorca, which operate as a charter once a week.

A statement from Freedom Travel says it ’would like to assure all our clients that we are doing everything within our power to try and find a resolution during this difficult period of time’.

The company added: ’We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our clients and reassure them that we will be doing our utmost to support them.

’We are very sorry for the impact on our local friends at the Thomas Cook branch, and offer any assistance we can to their employees and clients.

’We thank all our clients for their patience and support at this time and will provide an update as soon as we can.’

The Freedom Travel website says that Freedom Travel is part of the Co-operative Travel.

Thomas Cook owns 66.5% of Co-op Travel.

One couple told the Manx Independent: ’Because we were flying from Ronaldsway we are not covered by the ATOL agreement, a point which was not pointed out to us although it is there in the small print.

’It indicates that Freedom do have an insurance policy that should cover up to £3,000.

’The UK government document clearly indicates that the Freedom Travel group is in liquidation. We have worked hard to find out the above details with no available communication from Freedom, yet.

’We wonder, will we get any cash back? When will we be officially told what’s happening. Will they help us. Where do we go from here?’

They added that they feel ’very sorry’ for people who worked for these businesses and have lost their jobs because of the Thomas Cook collapse.

In the company’s brochure, which details its direct flights, it states: ’Freedom Travel IOM and Freedom Travel Group is a member of ABTA and ATOL holders.

’However, it is important to highlight to customers that holidays which travel directly from the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands do not fall under the scope of the ATOL scheme provided by the Civil Aviation Authority.

’We have therefore taken out separate insurance which provides our customers with up to £3,000 per person towards financial failure in the unlikely event that we or one of our suppliers financially fails. We have taken these additional steps to offer our customers total peace of mind.’

Other people who contacted us asked if their flights from the island to Majorca would go ahead as they had received no confirmation from Freedom Travel.

And one man, who is in Majorca and supposed to be travelling back on Saturday, said he has ’not heard anything’ from the company and was just hoping his flight was going ahead.

British Airways has now confirmed that passengers won’t be left stranded but Saturday’s direct flight from Ronaldsway to Majorca has been cancelled (see story right).

Reports in the UK suggest that Hays Travel has been given responsibility by the Civil Aviation Authority to handle bookings made by agents who were members of Thomas Cook’s consortium, including Freedom Travel.

However, it is not known if this will cover the direct flights from the island.

We have made several attempts to contact Jan Wozniak, the boss of Freedom Travel, but we have been unsuccessful.