Terms and Conditions
When you book a tour with Anglia Battlefield Tours Ltd the following conditions apply:
1. Making your Booking
Bookings are accepted subject to these terms and conditions. To make a booking, you must complete our booking form. This must be signed by the group leader who must be authorised to make the booking. By signing the booking form, the group leader acknowledges and confirms that he/she is so authorised and that all group members, whether or not they are intending to travel, agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. The group leader is responsible for making all payments due to us.
The completed signed booking form must then be sent to us by the date specified in your enquiry letter, together with a £50 booking fee.
Once we have received your booking form and all appropriate payments, we will, subject to availability, confirm your booking by issuing a Confirmation Pack. Please check the details carefully as soon as you receive them. Contact us immediately if any information in this Pack appears to be incorrect or incomplete as it may not be possible to make changes at a later date.
2. Pricing Policy
You will have agreed a price for the tour when you booked. This will be an inclusive price, unless otherwise stated and will contain any extra services/facilities you may have requested. There are however certain circumstances which may affect the cost of a tour, once it has been agreed. We reserve the right to make changes to and correct errors in advertised or quoted prices at any time before your tour is confirmed. We will advise you of any error which we are aware and of the subsequent effect this correction would have upon the price applicable at the time of booking. Increased transportation costs and fuel costs, surcharges, exchange rates or Government action such as increases in VAT or other taxes may cause such an increase.
Anglia Battlefield Tours will absorb the first 2% of the total cost of the tour. Should the increase be in excess of 10%, you will be entitled to postpone the tour and an alternative date will be offered. Any increases in charges made after you have been notified of a surcharge will be borne by us should you decide to go ahead with the tour.
3. Payment
In order to confirm your booking a booking fee of £50 must be sent to us by the date specified in your enquiry letter. This fee will be redeemable against the final invoice. Tours by Coach On day tours, a deposit of 10% is required upon receipt of the Confirmation Pack. On tours where overnight accommodation is required the deposit will be 30%. Tours by Air Individual airlines operate their own deposit procedure and we will advise you at the time of booking how much is required in accordance with this. For example, where a low cost airline is used as part of your travel arrangements the flights will need to be paid in full at the time of booking, this is nonrefundable. This is in addition to the 30% deposit as above. Final Payment An interim payment maybe required for some tours. You will be advised of this in your Confirmation Pack.
The balance is required to be paid six weeks before the tour departs.
In accordance with EU regulations designed for the protection of package tour customers, all payments received will be held in a Trust Account at HSBC Bank, Great Dunmow, until completion of the Tour
4. Cancelling your tour arrangements
If you decide to cancel your tour we must be notified in writing. Your notice of cancellation will only be effective when it is received in writing by us at our offices. As we incur costs from the time we confirm your booking cancellation charges will be payable. These charges will increase the closer to departure we receive your notice of cancellation.
More than 70 days – Booking fee only otherwise no charge (see Tours by Air)
70-43 days – all deposits due
42-15 days prior to the tour – 75% of the total cost of the tour
Less than 15 days prior to departure – Total cost of tour
5. Cancellation by Individual Group Members
A. Before final payment is due – If any paying person cancels after booking, the deposits due on the date when written notification of cancellation is received by us will be charged as the cancellation fee. If a substitute is put forward, the deposit will be transferred. For name changes on flights charges will apply.
B. After the final payment is due – If any paying person cancels after final payment is due and no replacement is found, cancellation charges will apply as above.
C. Affecting Minimum Size of Group – If any cancellation reduces the size of the group, the tour price and any concessions will be adjusted to reflect the new group size. 6. Minimum Numbers Your tour price has been calculated on the numbers quoted by you on booking. Should your numbers subsequently reduce or increase after the booking has been confirmed, the extra per capita costs will have to be borne by the school/organisation.
7. Alteration/Cancellation by us
Anglia Battlefield Tours will endeavor to ensure that no elements of your tour have to be changed. However, there will be occasions when such changes have to be made due to unforeseen circumstances. Most changes are minor. A minor change is any change which, taking account of the information you have given us at the time of booking or which we can reasonably be expected to know as a tour operator, we could not reasonably expect to have a significant effect on your confirmed arrangements. We reserve the right to make any such alterations.
Occasionally we have to make a significant change. Significant changes include the following changes when made before departure: a change of accommodation to that of lower official classification or standard for the whole or a major part of the time you are away, a change of accommodation area for the whole or a major part of the time you away, a change of outward departure time or overall length of time you are away of twelve or more hours, a change of confirmed UK departure point to one which is significantly more inconvenient for you and, in the case of tours, a significant change of itinerary missing out one or more major destinations substantially or altogether. You will be made aware of any significant changes prior to the tour, and have the option to defer the tour (amendment charges may apply) or accept the changes. We accept responsibility for ensuring that the services we contract to provide are supplied and to a reasonable standard.
8. Students/Passengers with a disability or medical condition
Please note that some people with certain disabilities may have difficulty getting on and off coaches, and some of our Hotels/Hostels do not offer ground floor accommodation. On most tours there is a certain amount of walking involved. Should any member of your group suffer from a disability or medical condition that could affect their or other members of the group’s tour, then we must be notified in writing at the time of enquiry as this may affect your booking arrangements.
You should also confirm that any assistance required by the individual can be met by other members of the group. If, after careful consideration, we feel unable to properly accommodate the particular needs of the person concerned, we must reserve the right to decline their reservation or, if full details are not given at the time of booking, cancel when we become aware of these details.
9. Force Majeur
Except where otherwise stated in these bookings conditions, we regret we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our contractual obligations is prevented or affected by you or otherwise suffer any damage or loss as a result of ‘force majeur’. In these terms and conditions ‘force majeur’ means any event which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. This includes war, civil disturbance, industrial dispute, unforeseeable terrorist activity or threat thereof, natural disaster, fire or adverse weather conditions and similar problems beyond our control. Anglia Battlefield Tours will do all that is possible to protect the schools/organisations interest, but we cannot be held responsible for unforeseen delays, industrial disputes, civil riots, accidents and inoperable weather.
10. Conditions of Carriage
Many of the services which make up your tour are provided by independent suppliers. Those suppliers provide these in accordance with their own terms and conditions but must comply with EU Regulations for operation in Europe. You will be subject to the conditions of carriage which apply to the individual coach company, airline or ferry operator. Copies of their Terms and Conditions can be made available for you to see.
11. Insurance
It is a condition of booking that you ensure that there is in place a suitable and adequate travel insurance policy or policies to cover all members of your group, and that no member of the group travels against medical advice. Anglia Battlefield Tours has full Public Liability cover through our insurers – The Royal Sun Alliance. A copy of this Schedule of Insurance is available on request.
12. Our liability to You
Our staff will always endeavour to give precise, accurate information to telephone enquiries and on preliminary visits. However, we cannot accept liability for information given verbally to customers unless it is confirmed by us in writing. We promise to make sure that the tour arrangements we have agreed to make, perform or provide as applicable as part of our contract with you are made, performed or provided with reasonable skill and care. We cannot accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our contract. In the event of a delay in returning to the UK of over five hours, Anglia Battlefield Tours will provide a light meal. If additional overnight accommodation is required due to unforeseen circumstances, then Anglia Battlefield Tours will meet the costs for one night’s accommodation.
Battlefields can be dangerous places. All group members are briefed on Health and Safety. Whilst Anglia Battlefield Tours will do everything it can to ensure the safety of its customers, we cannot take responsibility for any injury sustained as a result of failing to heed advice given, or any act of stupidity or willful act of negligence. Anglia Battlefield Tours operates a comprehensive, and independently audited, Safety Management System. Further details are available on request.
13. Complaints Procedure
Should you have a complaint about any aspect of your tour, you should notify the senior guide or Tour Manager without delay, in order that the problem can be quickly resolved. On your return from the tour you will be sent a Company Assessment sheet, which we ask you to complete and return to us. All comments, especially adverse ones, are acted upon as soon as is practicable. Once your complaint has been dealt with, you will be notified of the outcome.
14. Indemnity
We expect all members of your school/organisation to behave in an appropriate manner and to have consideration for others at the sites visited and in particular the accommodation you may be staying in. In the event of any member of the school/ organisation causing offence, danger, damage or distress to others, we reserve the right to terminate that individual’s tour arrangements. In that event, we will not be liable for any costs or expenses incurred by them or the school/organisation as a result. If the actions of a member of your school/ organisation cause damage to the accommodation in which you are staying, or to the vehicle in which you are traveling, or cause delay or diversion to any means of transportation, you agree to fully indemnify us against any claim (including legal costs of all concerned) made against us by or on behalf of the owners of such accommodation or the operator of such means of transportation or by any third party.
15. Passports and Visas – Your responsibilities European Travel
It is the responsibility of the school/organisation to ensure that all those traveling in their group have a valid individual passport and the necessary visas if required. It is the responsibility of the school/organisation to confirm the requirement of visas for non-British passport holders, by contacting the relevant Embassy or Consulate.
Guidance and visa exemption forms will only be issued to the school and are available from the British Council Information Centre Tel: 0161 957 7755 (1000-1645 hrs Mon-Fri) Fax: 0161 957 7762 Email: general.enquiries@britishcouncil.org
If a collective passport is used, then this again remains the responsibility of the school/organisation. You are responsible for any charges or fines that might be levied by authorities in the UK or abroad for non compliance with regulations in the area. Any such amounts will be recharged to you.
Travel to USA All passengers, including children, must have their own machine readable passport and a visa waiver form (obtainable at airport on departure) or obtain a United States visa.
Travel to Russia All passengers are required to have a visa for travel to Russia. Anglia Battlefield Tours will assist you with all visa applications.
16. Consistency In the event of any inconsistency between these Terms and Conditions and the additional general information in the brochure, then these Terms and Conditions will apply in respect of the inconsistency.
January 2009
