The UK Civil Aviation Authority, which manages the ATOL financial protection scheme, said it had paid out £290m from a total of 300,000 claims.

It pledged to continue to process claims during the Christmas and New Year period.

Earlier this month, customers of the defunct travel firm vented their frustrations after they did not  receive a refund by the 60-day cut-off date.

Richard Moriarty, chief executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “This process has been made more challenging by the complexities of the booking data we have received from Thomas Cook, as well as the additional security checks we have had to include to reduce the risk of fraudulent claims. We thank consumers for bearing with us as we continue this programme.”

Thomas Cook went into liquidation in September after last minute negotiations to save the company failed.

The claims process opened on 7 October 2019 and remains open until 22 September 2020.

Any Thomas Cook customer that has not yet submitted a claim is encouraged to do so as soon as possible.