Conditions of Booking
WHY SHOULD I READ
THIS?
HOW AND WHEN DO I MAKE THIS CONTRACT WITH YOU?
HOW IS MY
HOLIDAY MONEY PROTECTED?
WHEN DO I NEED TO PAY FOR MY HOLIDAY AND HOW MUCH?
CAN YOU CHANGE THE PRICE OF MY HOLIDAY AFTER YOU HAVE
ISSUED THE CONFIRMATION OF BOOKING?
CAN I
CHANGE MY HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS?
CAN
I TRANSFER MY BOOKING TO SOMEONE ELSE?
WHAT
HAPPENS IF I CANCEL MY HOLIDAY?
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO IF I HAVE TO COMPLAIN?
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU CHANGE OR CANCEL MY HOLIDAY?
HEALTH AND
SAFETY ON HOLIDAY
NO SMOKING POLICY
PICK UP POINTS, ITINERARIES TRAVEL DOCUMENTS AND
PASSPORTS
WHAT HAPPENS IF
I AM DELAYED?
DO I
NEED TO TAKE OUT TRAVEL INSURANCE?
DATA PROTECTION ACT
These are the booking
conditions under which BRENT THOMAS COACHES (herein
after referred to as BTC) accept bookings for all
holidays. Please read this carefully.
WHY SHOULD I READ THIS?
Because it is very important. These terms and conditions
form 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 (and anyone else in your
party) and us Brent Thomas Coaches.
When you make this booking as lead name, you undertake
that you have the authority to accept and do accept, on
behalf of your party the terms of these booking
conditions, which are governed by English Law, and the
non exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. Please
take time to read through them and you will see that
they are set out in simple terms what responsibilities
we both have when entering into a contract. BTC reserve
the right to refuse (without explanation) to except any
booking.
HOW AND WHEN DO I MAKE THIS CONTRACT WITH YOU?
The contract is made with us when we are in receipt of a
completed booking form together with £30 deposit per
person and we issue a confirmation of booking. We will
send you a confirmation of your booking usually within
48 hours of receipt. Please check this confirmation very
carefully to ensure all the information is correct and
notify us as soon as possible of any errors.
HOW IS MY
HOLIDAY MONEY PROTECTED?
In accordance with the EC Directive 90/314/EC all
passengers booking with Brent Thomas Coaches are fully
protected for the initial deposit and subsequently the
balance of all monies paid to us, including repatriation
if required, arising from cancellation or curtailment of
their travel arrangements due to the insolvency of Brent
Thomas Coaches, the money is held in a trust account at
National Westminster Bank, 1 Taff Street, Pontypridd
CF37 4UU.
To comply with the Package Travel, Package Holidays and
Package Tours Regulations 1992, we are members of BAWTA
Repatriation Scheme. This guarantees that you will be
returned to your departure point in the UK if we become
insolvent whilst you are outside the UK on any tour in
this brochure except in the case of packages taken
wholly within 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 form. The deposit
for all tours in this brochure is £30 per person. The
balance is due 6 weeks prior to departure. If you book
within our balance due period, you will need to pay the
total holiday cost at the time of booking. If you do not
pay the outstanding balance for your holiday on time we
shall cancel your booking and retain your deposit.
Where optional items are purchased as part of the tour
package these are payable on the balance due date except
where items have been specifically purchased for you. In
this case the cost will be payable at a separate date
notified to you and will not normally be refundable
unless we obtain a refund from the supplier we use.
CAN YOU CHANGE THE PRICE OF MY HOLIDAY AFTER YOU HAVE
ISSUED THE CONFIRMATION OF BOOKING?
We guarantee that once you have booked your holiday,
the price will not be changed.
CAN I
CHANGE MY HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS?
After we have issued our booking confirmation we will do
our best to accommodate any changes 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
signed the booking form. If we are able to make the
changes, an amendment fee of £10 per booking per
occasion will be payable, plus any additional charge for
the facilities requested. Any significant alteration
after the balance due date will be treated as a
cancellation of the original booking. A significant
alteration would include a change of departure date,
holiday or hotel, or number of people travelling.
CAN
I TRANSFER MY BOOKING TO SOMEONE ELSE?
If any person on a package holiday is prevented from
travelling, the company will agree to that person’s
booking being transferred to another person who
satisfies all the conditions applicable to the package,
subject to both persons accepting joint and several
liability for full payment of the package price and the
company’s charge for confirming the transfer and any
additional costs arising from the transfer. The company
must be given reasonable notice of the transfer request,
which is considered to be at least 14 days prior to the
outward departure date.
WHAT
HAPPENS IF 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 who
signed the booking form and is communicated to our
office in writing. If cancellation is due to events
which are the fault or wilful decision of the customer,
BTC shall be entitled to retain as much of the payment
as is needed to cover its reasonable costs and losses
caused by withdrawal. BTC shall take all reasonable
steps to keep its costs to a minimum. Your cancellation
will take effect from the date we receive written
confirmation of your cancellation. You must also return
any tickets or vouchers that you have received. A
reduction in room occupancy may increase the charges for
the remaining passengers by the application of
supplements for low occupancy of rooms.
WHAT DO I NEED TO DO IF I HAVE TO COMPLAIN?
If you have a complaint during your holiday, you should
tell our driver / representative at the earliest
opportunity so that they can do their utmost to resolve
the problem immediately. If, on your return from
holiday, you remain dissatisfied you should write within
14 days to our office. In your letter you will need to
tell us the name of the holiday hotel and the departure
date. In the event that you do not tell us in that
period this may affect the company’s ability to
investigate complaints and may impact on the way that
your complaint
is dealt with.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU CHANGE OR CANCEL MY HOLIDAY?
In view of the fact that brochures are necessarily
prepared sometime in advance, advertised facilities may
be changed. Therefore changes may be made to the
particulars contained in this brochure at any time
before the contract with you is made. In these
circumstances we will notify you of such changes prior
to confirmation of your booking. 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. A
significant change would include a change in departure
date, location of resort or quality of hotel (excluding
single overnight hotels on touring holidays),
cancellation by BTC because of insufficient numbers
(below twenty). On all
our holidays to the continent we reserve the right to
use either a ferry or the Channel Tunnel for the short
crossing between England and France.
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 may need to set bearing in mind
the need to safeguard the holiday arrangements of other
customers.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
ON HOLIDAY
Some people may be at risk from discomfort or deep vein
thrombosis (DVT) if they remain immobile on a journey
for a long period of time. If you are planning to
undertake a 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 of if you have had major surgery
in the last 3 months. During the journey we will provide
comfort stops as frequently as possible. During these
stops you are encouraged to get off the coach and walk
around. Exercise reduces discomfort, which may be caused
by periods of immobility.
NO
SMOKING POLICY
We operate a strict no smoking policy on all our
coaches. Comfort stops are made en-route.The smoking
policy of other carriers and suppliers will vary. Please
be aware that some hotels are also non-smoking, you must
abide by their regulations.
PICK UP POINTS, ITINERARIES TRAVEL DOCUMENTS AND
PASSPORTS
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. Approximately one week prior to departure we will
send you a confirmation of your pick-up point, seat
numbers and time of pick-up together with luggage
labels. Certain travel documents may have to be retained
by us, your driver will then issue them to you at the
relevant time.
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 date of
return. Non-UK citizens must seek passport and visa
advice from the consulates of the countries you plan to
visit prior to making a booking for one of our holidays.
The name on the passport must match the name on the
ticket. If someone in your party changes name after the
booking is made, you must tell us immediately so that we
can issue the ticket in the new name.
Brent Thomas Coaches reserves the right to modify
itineraries to conform with requests from the competent
authorities in the United Kingdom and any other
sovereign state through which the tour will operate. Any
changes will be notified as soon as possible. Included
excursions are detailed on the relevant brochure page
and refunds will not be made for any excursion not
taken. Admission fees to buildings, grounds etc are not
included in the price of the holiday unless otherwise
stated on the relevant page.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I
AM DELAYED?
Your travel insurance may cover you for some delays. For
full details please check your insurance schedule.
DO I
NEED TO TAKE OUT TRAVEL INSURANCE?
We strongly advise you to take out travel insurance to
cover medical and repatriation costs, personal injury,
loss of baggage and cancellation charges. You do not
need to take out our travel insurance but you must have
insurance that is at least as good or better than the
insurance we offer. If you do not have adequate
insurance and require our assistance whilst on holiday,
we reserve the right to reclaim from you any medical,
repatriation or other expenses that we may incur on your
behalf, which would otherwise have been met by insurers.
DATA PROTECTION ACT
In order to process your booking and to ensure that your
travel arrangements run smoothly and meet your
requirements we need to use the information you provide
such as name, address and special needs etc. We take
full responsibility for ensuring that proper measures
are in place to protect your information. We must pass
the information on the relevant suppliers, such as
hotels etc. The information may also be supplied to
public authorities such as customs / immigration if
required by them, or as required by law. If we cannot
pass this information on to the relevant suppliers, we
cannot provide your booking. In making this booking, you
consent to this information being passed on to the
relevant persons. Your data controller is Brent Thomas
Coaches. You are entitled to a copy of your information
held by us. If you would like to see this please contact
us. We retain your full contact details and other
information in secure files and electronic storage
facilities. We may use this information to contact you
by mail, telephone or electronic means.
