Thomas Cook suspends currency sales

Thomas Cook has suspended its online currency sales after unprecedented demand overnight, as the referendum results came in.

Throughout the night the travel company had been offering euros to click and collect at yesterday's favourable rate of €1.27 to the pound, despite the plunge in the value of the pound in the wholesale foreign exchange market.

Their rate has been cut to €1.21 today.

A rush of demand from holidaymakers trying to protect themselves against the fall led to queues snaking outside the doors at some Thomas Cook outlets this morning.

So the company suspended the online service to make sure that its counters did not run out of cash.

A Thomas Cook spokesperson said:

"We have temporarily suspended our travel money website following unprecedented customer demand for foreign currency overnight and this morning. We apologise to all customers affected. Our immediate priority is to ensure that we have enough currency in store to fulfil outstanding orders. We hope to be back up and running as soon as possible."

Pension warning

The government is to write to more than 100,000 people who are set to receive no state retirement pension because they haven't made enough National Insurance contributions.

A new rule imposed in April laid down that people needed at least 10 years of contributions in order to start qualifying.

MPs on the Work and Pensions Select Committee had complained that many would have been unaware of the change.

The Department for Work and Pensions has decided to write to those most at risk "as a one-off exercise" before the end of the year.

It will target individuals within 9 years of state pension age whose records suggest they will have fewer than 10 qualifying years of contributions by the time they retire.

The 10 year rule was introduced alongside the New Station Pension, paid at a flat rate of £155.65 to those with a full 35 years of contributions.