A major school exam board has been made to apologise to Thomas Cook travel firm over a question about the company in one of this year’s AS-level papers.

The AQA Business Studies paper, taken by thousands of students across the country last week, included a case study detailing plans for store closures and redundancies at the company.

According to the company, the case study question featured information that was three years old – a point that AQA failed to make clear to students.

A spokesperson from Thomas Cook admitted that a formal complaint was made following a “backlash on social media” painting the company in a poor light.

The exam board has not released details of the question itself because it says it avoids publishing recent papers which may be used as mock exams for future test preparation.

In a statement, AQA said: “Our AS-level business studies paper featured a case study about travel company Thomas Cook's plans for store closures and redundancies.”

“Thomas Cook has asked us to point out that the information used in this case study was from 2013 and doesn't reflect their current circumstances or plans.”

“We're happy to do so and apologise for any misunderstanding.”