Terms & Conditions
DOES THIS TRADING CHARTER APPLY TO MY BOOKING?
Yes, if you are booking a ‘package’ to which the Package Travel Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992 apply and which does not comprise a flight. In brief those Regulations apply to a booking of at least two of the following components when sold or offered for sale at an inclusive price and when the service covers a period of more than twenty-four hours or includes overnight accommodation:
- Transport
- Accommodation
- Other tourist services not ancillary to transport or accommodation and accounting for a significant proportion of the package.
WHY SHOULD I READ THIS?
Because it is very important. Our Trading Charter forms a key part of our agreement with you and forms the basis of a legally binding contract between you as the lead name making the booking, anyone else in your party and us. When you make this booking as the lead name you undertake that you have the authority to accept, and do no accept, on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions. This contract is made subject to the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by English Law, and the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
If your holiday involves any travel by air your contract will be with the ATOL holder named on the individual brochure page. These contract terms and financial guarantees will not apply to any holiday involving any type of flight. Instead, you will be supplied with the full booking conditions of the ATOL holder arranging your holiday. Your booking agent will have a copy or alternatively you can request one prior to booking your holiday either by telephoning us or in person at our office. If you did not see this this trading charter before you made your booking and you are not happy to proceed with the booking now that you have seen it please return all documentation to us within 7 days of receiving this charter. Your booking will be cancelled and your monies will be returned in full, provided you have not commenced your travel.
HOW AND WHEN DO I MAKE THIS CONTRACT WITH YOU?
To make a booking you can either call into our office or telephone one of our dedicated booking staff. If you decide to make a provisional booking, we can hold these places for you without obligation for a period of 7 days. Please note that provisional bookings will be cancelled automatically if a deposit is not received to secure a booking within this time.
HOW IS MY HOLIDAY MONEY PROTECTED?
Nycer Coach Breaks complies with the 1992 Package Travel Regulations by placing all advance payments in a separate Co-Operative Bank Trust Account that is managed by appointed trustees. If you ever become concerned about our financial affairs, please contact our office for further information. These contact details are however contained on all confirmation booking invoices.
Nycer Coach Breaks is also a member of BAWTA. The BAWTA Repatriation Scheme guarantees that, if we ceased trading whilst we had passengers on tour abroad, they would be repatriated to their local area (but not directly to their homes) in the UK.
WHEN DO I NEED TO PAY FOR MY HOLIDAY AND HOW MUCH?
At the time of booking you will need to pay a deposit for each person named on the booking. The balance must be paid before the due dated printed on your confirmation invoice. We do not send reminders for payment. If you make a booking within our balance due period you will need to pay the total holiday cost at the time of booking.
- A deposit of £59 is required on all coach holidays priced under £400
- A deposit of £89 is required on all coach holidays priced over £400
- Deposits on Air Holidays will differ and will state on the brochure page.
CAN YOU CHANGE THE PRICE OF MY HOLIDAY AFTER YOU HAVE ISSUED THE BOOKING CONFIRMATION?
Yes we can, but only in very limited circumstances. The price of your holiday can be varied due to changes in:-
- Transportation costs such as fuel and/or fuel tax, ferry operators fares and tolls, embarkation or disembarkation fees at terminal
- Exchange rates applied to the particular holiday booked
- VAT and taxes including changes in VAT or any Government imposed changes.
In the case of any small variation, an amount equivalent to 2% of the price of your holiday, which excludes any amendment charges, will be absorbed. If this means that you have to pay more than 10% of the price of your holiday, you may cancel it and receive a full refund of all monies paid, except for any amendment charges. Should you decided to cancel for this reason, you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days of receiving your notification of change. Alternatively, you can accept an offer of an alternative comparable holiday of equivalent or superior quality, if available, or an alternative holiday of lower quality, if available. You may then transfer payment made in respect of your original holiday to the alternative holiday. If the cost of the alternative holiday is less than the original holiday and you have paid your final balance, the difference in price will be refunded to you. We will also pay your compensation as set out below.
CAN I CHANGE MY HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS?
After we have issued our booking confirmation we will do our best to accommodate any change you may want to make but we cannot guarantee to do so. Any changes must be notified to us in writing and signed by the person who made the booking with us. If we are able to make the changes an amendment fee of £10 per booking, per person will be payable plus any additional charge for the facilities requested.
CAN I TRANSFER MY BOOKING TO SOMEONE ELSE?
Yes you can transfer your booking to someone else provided you give us reasonable notice. This person must be able to satisfy all the conditions for the holiday and a change cannot normally be made later than seven days prior to departure. We will make an administration charge of £10 per booking for every transfer we make plus any reasonable additional costs caused by the transfer. You will remain responsible for ensuring that the holiday is paid by the balance due date.
HOW CAN I CANCEL MY HOLIDAY?
You, or any member of your party, may cancel at any time provided that the cancellation is made by the person that made the booking and is communicated to us in writing to our office. You will have to pay cancellation charges set out in the scale below to cover our estimated loss resulting from your cancellation. If you are insured against cancellation you may be able to recover the charges from your insurer. Your cancellation will take effect from the date we receive your written confirmation of your cancellation. A reduction in room occupancy may increase the charges for the remaining passengers by the application of supplements for single occupancy rooms.
SCALE OF CANCELLATION CHARGES?
You, or any member of your party, may cancel at any time provided that the cancellation is made by the person that made the booking and is communicated to us in writing to our office. You will have to pay cancellation charges set out in the scale below to cover our estimated loss resulting from your cancellation. If you are insured against cancellation you may be able to recover the charges from your insurer. Your cancellation will take effect from the date we receive your written confirmation of your cancellation. A reduction in room occupancy may increase the charges for the remaining passengers by the application of supplements for single occupancy rooms.
| Period before departure within which written cancellation of holiday is received | Cancellation Charge (percentage of tour price) |
| 7 days or less | 100% |
| 14 – 8 days | 90% |
| 28 – 15 days | 75% |
| 42 – 29 days | 50% |
| 55 – 43 days | 30% |
| More than 56 days | Loss of deposit |
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU CHANGE MY HOLIDAY?
The arrangements for your holiday will usually have been made many months in advance. Sometimes changes are unavoidable and we reserve the right to make them. Most of these changes are likely to be minor and we will do our best to keep you informed. If after booking and before departure, we make a significant change to your holiday you will have the option of withdrawing from the holiday without penalty or alternatively you may transfer to another holiday without paying an administration fee. In either case we will pay you compensation according to the scale set out below. A significant change includes a change in departure time or return time of more than 12 hours, a change of location of resort or quality of hotel (excluding single overnight hotels on touring holidays where the quality of the hotel is comparable), or a change of mode when crossing the Channel. If you withdraw from the holiday because we have made a significant change or if we have to cancel your holiday for any reason other than non-payment by you we will offer you the choice of:
- A comparable replacement holiday if available; or
- A replacement holiday of lower quality together with a refund of the price difference; or:
- A full refund of the money you have paid.
When we have notified you of the changes and options available, you must tell us your decision as soon as possible and within any timescale we need to set bearing in mind the need to safeguard the holiday arrangements of other customers.
SCALE OF COMPENSATION
| Period before departure within which a significant change is notified to you | Compensation per person per holiday up to and including 4 days | Compensation per person per per holiday over 5 days |
| More than 42 days | Nil | Nil |
| 41 to 29 days | Nil | £10 |
| 15 to 28 days | £10 | £15 |
| 8 to 14 days | £15 | £20 |
| 0 to 7 days | £20 | £25 |
Payment of compensation according to the scale set out above will not affect your statutory right to claim further compensation if, in all circumstances, you remain dissatisfied.
If prior to departure, we make a significant change to your holiday arrangements or cancel your holiday we will pay you compensation as stated above unless:
- The holiday is cancelled because the number of persons who agreed to take it is less than the minimum number required, and you were informed of the cancellation in writing before the balance due date.
- The holiday is cancelled by reason of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond the control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised. These circumstances include war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity industrial disputes, fire, quarantine epidemic or health risks, natural or nuclear disasters, port terminal closures and adverse weather conditions. If after departure, we need to make a change to a significant proportion of your holiday we will do our best to make suitable alternative arrangements at no extra cost to you.
WHAT IS THE EXTENT OF OUR LIABILITY?
We accept responsibility if you or any of member of your party is killed or injured as a result of an accident forming part of your holiday arrangements, booked with us; or if any part of your holiday arrangements, booked with us in the UK, is not as described in the brochure or not of a reasonable standard; if the failure in your holiday arrangements or any death or personal injury is due to any fault on our part or that of our suppliers whilst acting in the course of their employment. We do not accept responsibility if the failure, death or personal injury is not caused by any fault of ours or our suppliers or is caused by or someone not connected with your holiday arrangements; or if the failure, death or personal injury is due to unusual or unforeseen circumstances, which, even will all due care, we, or our suppliers, could not have anticipated or avoided. For claims that do not involve personal injury, illness or death, the most we will have to pay if we are liable to you is twice the price per person affected paid for their holiday. We will only have to pay this maximum amount if everything has gone wrong and you have received no benefit from your holiday. If you or any member of your party is killed, injured or becomes ill as a result of transport by ships, train or coach, any liability which we may have to pay compensation is limited in line with the Athens Convention (applies to transport by ship), the Berne Convention (applies to transport by rail) and the Geneva Convention (applies to transport by road). You can get copies of the relevant conventions from us if you ask. You should also note that these conventions may limit or remove the carrier’s liability to you and the amount which the carrier has to pay to you. If we make payment to you or any member of your party for death, personal injury or illness, you will be asked to assign to us or our insurers the rights you may have to take action against the person or organization responsible for causing death, personal injury or illness. Our suppliers (such as accommodation or attractions) have their own booking conditions or conditions of carriage, and these conditions are binding between you and the supplier. Some of these conditions may limit or remove the relevant transport provider’s or other supplier’s liability to you.
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO IF I HAVE TO COMPLAIN?
If you have a complaint during your holiday you should tell the driver/tour manager or supplier at the earliest opportunity so that they can their utmost to resolve the problem immediately. If they are unable to resolve the problem to your satisfaction you should complete a Holiday Report Form which is available from the driver/tour manager. If, on your return from holiday, you remain dissatisfied you should write within 28 days to our office address of 14 Riverside House, Lower Southend Road, Wickford, Essex SS11 8BB. In your letter you will need to quote your booking reference number and departure date. If you do not tell us at the earliest opportunity about a problem giving rise to your complaint we cannot take steps to investigate and rectify it. In deciding how to respond to your complaint we will take into account the date you first drew the problem to the attention of our driver/tour manager or supplier.
OUR COACHES
We will always use our reasonable endeavors to provide a coach to the specification as described in our brochure or advertisement but reserve the right to substitute an alternative vehicle should unforeseen circumstances arise. There is a seating plan of the coach for each package, but it is possible that on occasions operational reasons will require a coach with a different configuration to be used. We therefore reserve the right to alter a coachseating plan and allocate seats other than those you have booked. Requests for particular seats can be made on most packages when booking but because allocations are made on a first come first served basis you are recommended to book early. When you make your booking you will be offered the best seats that are available at that time. Specific seats will not be allocated on coaches which operate on feeder services between joining points and main package departure points, on coaches which carry out transfers to and from seaports or on holidays to the Channel Islands.
HOTEL FACILITIES
Some hotel facilities, such as indoor or outdoor swimming pools or leisure facilities may from time to time be withdrawn for routine maintenance or be subject to seasonal availability. The provision of these facilities is therefore not guaranteed.
HEALTH & SAFETY DURING YOUR HOLIDAY
In some foreign countries, standards of infrastructure, safety and hygiene may be lower than those to which we are accustomed in the UK. You should therefore exercise greater care for your own protection. Further information can be obtained from your GP who can provide you with the leaflet ‘Health Advice for Travellers’ published by the Department of Health. Some people may be at risk from discomfort or deep vain thrombosis (DVT) if they remain immobile on a journey for a long period of time. If you are planning to undertake a bus or coach journey of more than 3 hours you should consult your doctor if you have ever had DVT or pulmonary embolism, a family history of clotting conditions, cancer or treatment for cancer, a stroke, heart or lung disease.
PASSENGER BEHAVIOUR
We want all our customers to have a happy and carefree holiday. But you must remember that you are responsible for your behavior and the effect it may have on others. If you or any member of your party is abusive or disruptive or behaves in a way which, in our reasonable opinion, could cause damage or injury to others or effect their enjoyment of their holiday, or which could damage property, we have the right, after reasonable consideration, to terminate your contract with us. If this happens we will have no further obligations or liability to you. The coach driver/tour manager, ship captain or authorized official of other means of transport is entitled to refuse you boarding if in their reasonable opinion you are unacceptably under the influence of drink or drugs or you are being violent and disruptive. If you are refused boarding on your outward journey we will regard it as a cancellation by you and we will apply cancellation charges according to the scale set out above. If the refusal is on the return journey we have the right to terminate the contract and will have no further obligations of liability to you.
NO SMOKING POLICY
Smoking is not permitted on our coaches.
PICK UP POINT, ITINERARIES, TRAVEL DOCUMENTS AND PASSPORT
You are responsible for ensuring that you are at the correct departure point, at the correct time, with the correct documents and we cannot be held liable for any loss or expense suffered by you or your party because of an incorrect passport or late arrival at the departure point. If you are a British citizen travelling outside the United Kingdom you must have a full UK passport valid for a minimum of six months after your scheduled return date. Non UK citizens must seek passport and visa advice from the relevant consulates or embassies of the countries you plant to visit prior to making a booking for one of our packages (andyou are advised to check with the relevant consulates or embassy to ensure you allow sufficient time before your departure to apply for a visa). The name on the passport must match the name on the ticket.
INSURANCE
If our chosen insurance provider, Wrightsure Services (Hampshire) Limited are unable to offer you the travel insurance cover you require because you have serious medical conditions, you may be able to get help by accessing the Money and Pensions Service travel directory or by calling 0800 138 777 (lines are open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm).