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TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF
OUR CONTRACT WITH YOU
(Copyright © Somme
Battlefield Tours Ltd 2007)
Abbreviations and meanings
For the purposes of these booking conditions terms such as ‘us’, ‘we’
and ‘our’ shall mean Somme Battlefield Tours Ltd (the tour ‘organiser’).
‘Tour’ refers to both Self-Drive and Conducted Tours unless otherwise
stated. The term ‘you’ refers to the person making the booking. ‘Party’
and ‘group’ means those persons travelling with you, on behalf of whom
you are making the booking.
How to book
Please contact us by ‘phone or e-mail to make a booking and/or to seek
clarification on any aspect of the tours offered. We are
committed to clearly explaining what is and what is not included in your
tour, as well as outlining our tour itinerary.
No
contract shall exist between you and us until your booking is confirmed
in writing by us, such confirmation including our standard ‘Terms and
Conditions’ which, together with our letter, shall form the basis of the
contract between you and us. You may cancel a tour within 7 days of
receipt of your tour confirmation letter and receive a full refund
should you not agree with what is stated (but subject to the conditions
outlined under ‘Cancellations’ below).
Payment
Deposit
A
deposit of £80 per person is payable on booking either a conducted or
self-drive tour.
Payments can be made either by credit card or by cheque. Cheques/Postal
Orders should be made payable to ‘Somme Battlefield Tours Ltd Trust
Account’. All credit card payments are paid direct to our Trust
Account (see Security of Payments).
Single supplement
(conducted tours only)
If
you would like a single hotel room there is an additional
£40
supplement. If you are happy to share a twin hotel room with another
tour member (of the same gender) then there is no extra charge - subject to such an arrangement being possible.
All
payments must be made in GB Pounds Sterling (credit card payments for
those living outside the UK are usually converted automatically).
Final balance
If
you do not pay in full when booking your tour, your outstanding balance
is payable not less than 56 days (8 weeks) prior to your date of
departure. If the balance has not been paid by 48 days prior to
departure, we may cancel your booking and levy the cancellation charges
set out below under ‘Cancellations’.
Self-Drive Battlefield Guide(s) will be forwarded on receipt of the
final balance.
Security of Payments
We fully comply with the provisions of the Package Travel, Package
Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 (EEC Directive 90/314). In
accordance with these regulations, all payments made to Somme
Battlefield Tours Ltd., either as deposit or final settlement (including
all credit card payments), are held in a separate trust account
(Barclays Bank plc, Wimborne, Dorset A/c No. 40812048) and as such
cannot be released to Somme Battlefield Tours Ltd. until the specified
tour has taken place. This regulation guarantees a full refund of all
monies paid in the most unlikely event of us failing to provide the tour
booked.
Cancellations
In the unlikely event of us having to cancel a tour, for whatever
reason, we will inform you as soon as possible. We require a minimum of
5 persons to make up a tour. Should this number not be met we agree to
tell you not less than 28 days ahead of the planned tour. You
will have the choice of accepting either an alternative tour or having
an immediate full refund of all monies paid (including deposit).
Should it be necessary for either you or any member of your party to
have to cancel a booking, then the person making the booking must notify
us in writing. The cancellation will be effective from the date this
written communication is received by us. You may substitute another
person in the place of any of your group at no extra charge, should you
or any member of your group be unable to come on a tour.
The
following scale of cancellation charges shall apply (relative to date of
departure):
More than 56 days tour deposit
56 - 28 days 30% of tour price
27 - 8 days 70% of tour price
7 days or less 100% of tour price
‘Force Majeure’
We accept full responsibility for ensuring that the services we contract
to provide are to a reasonable standard, subject to the provisions of ‘force majeure’. This provision means that we do not accept
liability for any damage, losses or additional expenses suffered by you
or any member of your group, as the result of causes beyond the
reasonable and foreseeable control of us, such as war, riot, accident,
civil strife, industrial dispute(s), crime, natural or nuclear disaster,
disease, Acts of God, adverse weather conditions, as well as the illness
or other incapacitation of James Power (tour organiser), or such similar
occurrences.
Travel Insurance
Clients must be insured for travel to Belgium and France (and UK for
non-UK residents), in respect of medical cover and repatriation, as a
condition of travelling with Somme Battlefield Tours (conducted tours
only). Such insurance is also strongly recommended for those booking
self-drive tours.
Tour Party Size (Conducted Tours)
Tour parties will be limited to a maximum of 6 persons (both Somme and
Somme/Ypres conducted tours) or 7 by special arrangement.
Passports
You must ensure that you and all members of your group are in possession
of a valid passport for travel to France and Belgium (and UK for non-UK
residents). We will not be liable for the consequences of any failure to
comply with this important requirement.
Transport (Somme & Ypres Conducted Tours)
We own our own 8-seat Ford Tourneo minibus (or similar vehicle). All
vehicles are fitted with seat belts and forward facing seats.
Please exercise great care when accessing/exiting the vehicle. Seat
belts should be worn at all times. Please ask for help if in any doubt.
Please keep luggage as compact as possible as space is limited. Soft
holdalls are preferred to rigid suitcases.
Pick-up Points (Conducted Tours)
We will offer you at least two pick-up location options, these locations
usually being central London (Victoria), and the M20 Maidstone Services.
Accommodation
We will tell you which hotels we will be using when you book your tour.
We only use two, three and four star hotels (and guest house options for
self-drive tours to the Somme or Ypres battlefield) situated either on
or very close to the battlefield(s), such as close to the principal
battlefield towns of Albert (France-Somme) and Ypres (Ieper-Belgium),
rather than the larger hotels used by some other tour operators some
distance away. All hotel/guest house rooms have en-suite facilities
unless otherwise stated. You will not be expected to share accommodation
with persons not in your personal group.
Meals (Conducted Tours)
Unless otherwise stated (ie private tours) your tour cost includes
all meals whilst in France/Belgium, including wine with your evening
meal, as well as all transport and museum fees. Lunches are usually set
menus, whereas evening meals have a choice of dishes. In addition,
complimentary snacks/drinks etc will be available all the time we are
touring the battlefields.
Smoking (Conducted Tours)
Clients are respectfully requested not to smoke in the vehicle, dining
room or at any other time in the close proximity of other clients.
Smoking hotel rooms may be available subject to prior notification being
given.
Tour Itinerary (Conducted Tours)
Please note that the tour itinerary is flexible and may be subject to
change and/or variation according to prevailing circumstances, or to
accommodate the particular wishes (within reason) of members of the tour
group. Often we are able to include additional sites of interest
to those shown in the itinerary (time permitting).
Self-Drive Tour Costs
We undertake to arrange your ferry/tunnel travel, and bed and breakfast
hotel/guest house accommodation. We will also provide you with a
comprehensive tour pack as described in the appropriate section of our
website (www.battlefield-tours.com).
The
tour cost does not include lunch and evening meal as experience has
shown that travellers usually wish to have freedom of choice regarding
where and what to eat, as opposed to being tied to a hotel.
The
tour price does not include additional costs such as cabin/room
upgrades, newspapers, telephone calls, additional food and beverages,
wine/beers/spirits etc.
Eurotunnel - Liability for
excess charges
Please note that if you arrive either early or late at Eurotunnel
Check-In within 2 hours of your booked departure time, Eurotunnel will,
at no extra charge, transfer you to a space on the next available
shuttle. However, please note that this could take a while during busy
periods.
If you arrive between 2 and 24 hours after your booked departure time,
Eurotunnel may charge you the difference between the price paid
originally by Somme Battlefield Tours Ltd and the price applicable to
your new departure. If you arrive more than 24 hours after your booked
departure time, you will need to buy a new ticket. Any excess charges
will be required to be paid direct to Eurotunnel at the time of travel.
Vehicles fitted with LPG
LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) and dual powered vehicles (i.e. vehicles
fitted with an LPG tank as an alternative fuel) cannot be accepted for
transport by Eurotunnel. Vehicles fitted with LPG containers to power
domestic services e.g. cooking, refrigeration, heating and water heaters
are accepted as long as the containers are switched off, weigh no more
than 47kg and are not more than 80% full. If your vehicle is fitted with
such a container, you must declare this at Check-In.
Disruptive Behaviour
Client(s) behaving in a disruptive manner may, after warning and/or at
the discretion of us (or hoteliers in the case of self-drive tours), be
required to leave the tour or hotel premises without recompense for
termination of residence/booking/tour contract. Under such circumstances
we shall not be liable for any additional costs (e.g. travel,
accommodation etc), nor refund for termination of stay/residence/tour
contract etc.
Disability and other Special Requirements
Having regard to the nature and size of our organisation, we are
committed to taking all reasonable steps to accommodate persons
experiencing most forms of disability. It is important that you tell us
in advance if you (or any of your group if appropriate) have any
disability, dietary requirement, or other condition/special need. It is
also important that we have advanced notification of any cemetery,
memorial or other battlefield location that you may wish to visit (and
not already included in the itinerary) as it may be possible, at the
discretion of SBT, to make a small diversion to our usual route to cater
for such requests.
Complaints
Any complaint about our failure to fulfil our commitment to you, or the
inadequate performance of our contract with you, should be made not more
than 28 days following your tour. To date (after 12 years) we have not
received a single complaint.
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