BOOKING CONDITIONS
Booking Conditions
YOUR CONTRACT IS WITH Our Local Tour Ltd, Collingwood Buildings, 38 Collingwood Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 1JF. Registered in England no. 14337314
Your holiday contract
When you make a booking, you guarantee that you have the authority to accept and do accept on behalf of your party the terms of these booking conditions. A contract will exist as soon as we issue our confirmation invoice. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions, which are governed by English Law, and the jurisdiction of the English Courts.
If you had not seen these terms and conditions when you made your booking and you are not happy to proceed with the booking now that you have seen them, please return all documentation to us or to your travel agent, within 7 days of receiving these booking conditions. Your booking will be cancelled, and your monies will be returned in full, provided you have not commenced your travel. This clause does not apply if your booking was made within 8 weeks of travel or include any flight reservations which are subject to the individual airlines’ own cancellation conditions.
Financial protection
The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT) provides financial protection under its ATOL Franchise and The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 for Our Local Tour Ltd (5573) ATOL number 12357, and in the event of their insolvency, protection is provided for the following:
- non-flight packages;
- flight inclusive packages that commence outside of the UK, which are sold to customers outside of the UK; and
- flight inclusive packages, flight only and linked travel arrangements (LTAs) sold as a principal under the ABTOT ATOL Franchise.
ABTOT cover provides for a refund in the event you have not yet travelled or repatriation if you are abroad. Please note that bookings made by customers outside the UK are only protected by ABTOT when purchased directly with Our Local Tour Ltd.
In the unlikely event that you require assistance whilst abroad due to our financial failure, please call ABTOT’s 24/7 helpline on 01702 811397 and advise you are a customer of an ABTOT protected travel company.
You can access The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/634/contents/made
You can find out more about ABTOT here: https://www.abtot.com/
All the flights and flight inclusive holidays on this website are financially protected either by ABTOT or the ATOL scheme. When you pay for something protected by the ATOL scheme you will be supplied with an ATOL Certificate. Please ask for it and check to ensure that everything you booked (flights, hotels and other services) is listed on it. Please see our booking conditions for further information or for more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to: www.atol.org.uk/ATOLCertificate
Booking procedure
Depending on the holiday you wish to book, there may be a minimum age for persons travelling (we will advise you when you book). The lead name on a booking, must always be a minimum age of 18 and must provide full name and date of birth as per the details in the passports of the persons travelling in that booking. The lead name is responsible for payment of the total booking price, including any insurance premiums and subsequent cancellation or amendment charges that may be payable. He or she also agrees to provide accurate and full information to the remainder of the travelling party in relation to the booking, including any changes thereto.
Once you have received our full confirmation and request for payment please complete the Booking Form / Passenger Information Form online or you can send it to us by post. When you make your booking, we will ask for a minimum deposit of £350 per person or 20% of the total cost, whichever is greater.
The balance of the price of your travel arrangements must be paid at least 10 (ten) weeks before your departure date. If the balance is not paid in time, we shall reserve the right to cancel your travel arrangements. If the balance is not paid in time, we shall retain your deposit. Unless otherwise advised payments for flights are non-refundable and dates of travel will be fixed and non-changeable. It essential that travel insurance is taken at the time of booking to cover possible cancellation.
If you have a special request for anything that is not included in the travel arrangements that you book through us, please advise us when you book, and we will pass this information on to the companies we work with. Our note of your request on your confirmation invoice/receipt only confirms that we have received it and does not guarantee that we, the operator or other relevant supplier, can meet with your request. We must emphasise that verbal confirmations of special requests cannot be taken as a guarantee that they will be met e.g. special meal types on flights, or hotel room requests. We will not pay compensation for failing to meet a special request unless we have confirmed separately in writing that it is available.
Tour prices
We reserve the right to alter the prices of any of the holidays shown in our brochure. You will be advised of the current price of the holiday that you wish to book before your contract is confirmed. Changes in transportation costs, including the cost of fuel, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports and exchange rates mean that the price of your travel arrangements may change after you have booked. However, there will be no change within 30 days of your departure.
We will absorb and you will not be charged for any increase equivalent to 2% of the price of your travel arrangements, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges. You will be charged for the amount over and above that. If this means that you have to pay an increase of more than 8% of the price of your travel arrangements, you will have the option of accepting a change to another holiday if we are able to offer one (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value) or cancelling and receiving a full refund of all monies paid, except for any amendment charges. Should you decide to cancel you must do so within 14 days from the date on your final invoice. We will consider an appropriate refund of insurance premiums paid if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy. Prices shown are per person and are based on TWO persons sharing a room.
Kindly note that double bedded rooms cannot be guaranteed, although requests will be noted at the time of booking. Furthermore, some hotels have several different room types. We regret that on group tours, we are unable to pre-allocate a particular room type and in order that we accommodate the entire group, some clients may be given a superior room type without additional charge. In such cases this will always be done in the fairest way possible. We thank you in advance for your understanding.
Group size
Unless otherwise stated our group tours are based on a minimum of between 2 to 4 clients and a maximum of 16. In the event that we are unable to operate the tour on this basis, you will be advised at the earliest opportunity and always no less than 1 month before departure. At that time you will be offered one of the following options:
- Travel as planned, but at an additional supplement, payable per person. The cost of this supplement will vary depending on the itinerary and number of confirmed clients
- The same tour but for a different date. Alternatively a different tour, for another destination and date
- A full refund of all monies paid to the Company.
We will at times guarantee a tour for departure with no clients confirmed as a commercial decision based on historical booking figures. When we guarantee a tour, this will operate whatever the client numbers booked on that departure.
Alterations by you
If, after our confirmation invoice has been issued, you wish to change your travel arrangements in any way, we will do our utmost to make these changes but it may not always be possible. Any request for changes to be made must be in writing from the person who made the booking or your travel agent.
You will be asked to pay an administration charge of £75.00 and any further cost we incur in making this alteration. You should be aware that these costs could increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made, and you should contact us as soon as possible.
Note: Certain travel arrangements may not be changeable after a reservation has been made and any alteration request could incur a cancellation charge of up to 100% of that part of the arrangements.
For alterations within 10 weeks of departure Cancellation charges will apply.
If we change or cancel your trip
As we plan your holiday arrangements many months in advance, we may occasionally have to make changes or cancel your booking and we reserve the right to do so at any time.
Changes. If we make a major change to your holiday, we will inform you or your travel agent as soon as reasonably possible if there is time before your departure. You will have the choice of either accepting the change of arrangements, accepting an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard from us if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value), or cancelling your holiday and receiving a full refund of all monies paid. In some cases, we will also pay compensation of £75.00 per person. These options don’t apply for minor changes. Examples of minor changes include alteration of your outward/return flights by less than 12 hours, changes to aircraft type, change of accommodation to another of the same or higher standard, change of tour route and order, changes of carriers.
Cancellation. We will not cancel your travel arrangements except for reasons of force majeure or failure by you to pay the final balance. We may cancel your holiday if the minimum number of clients required for a particular travel arrangement is not reached as explained under ‘Group size’. If your holiday is cancelled you can either have a refund of all monies paid or accept an offer of alternative travel arrangements of comparable standard from us, if available (we will refund any price difference if the alternative is of a lower value). In some cases, we will pay compensation (see below).
Insurance. If we cancel or make a major change and you accept a refund, we will consider an appropriate refund of your travel insurance premiums if you can show that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy.
Compensation. If we cancel or make a major change, we will pay compensation of £75.00 except where the major change or cancellation arises due to reasons of force majeure. The compensation that we offer does not exclude you from claiming more if you are entitled to do so.
Force Majeure. We will not pay you compensation if we have to cancel or change your travel arrangements in any way because of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control. These can include, for example, the threat of war, riot, industrial dispute, terrorist activity and its consequences, natural or nuclear disaster, fire, adverse weather conditions, epidemics and pandemics, unavoidable technical problems with transport.
Cancellation by you
You, or any member of your party, may cancel your travel arrangements at any time. Written notification from the person who made the booking or your travel agent must be received at our offices. If written notification of cancellation is received more than 10 weeks before departure only your deposit will be forfeited, together with the cost of any flight(s), which are always non-refundable and non-changeable. Cancelling less than 10 weeks before departure the following cancellation charges will be applied:
70 to 41 days 45% of final invoice together with the cost of any flight(s), which are always non-refundable and non-changeable.
40 to 21 days 60% of final invoice together with the cost of any flight(s), which are always non-refundable and non-changeable.
20 to 14 days 80% of final invoice together with the cost of any flight(s), which are always non-refundable and non-changeable.
Within 14 days 100% of final invoice together with the cost of any flight(s), which are always non-refundable and non-changeable.
Part cancellation of a booking may result in additional costs being payable by the remaining members of your party. This includes additional tour costs and single supplements.
Note: If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges.
Cancellation by you due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances:
You have the right to cancel your confirmed tour before departure in the event of “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” occurring at your tour destination or its immediate vicinity and significantly affecting the performance of the tour or significantly affecting the transport arrangements to the destination. In these circumstances, we shall provide you with a refund of the monies you have paid, less any non-refundable charges imposed by our suppliers, but we will not be liable to pay you any additional compensation. Please note that your right to cancel in these circumstances will only apply where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travel to your destination or its immediate vicinity. For the purposes of this clause, “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” means warfare, acts of terrorism, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions, which make it impossible to travel safely to the travel destination.
Our responsibility for your holiday
Your booking is accepted on the understanding that you realise the potential risks and hazards that can be involved in adventure travel of this kind, including injury, loss or damage to property, discomfort and inconvenience. We will also accept your booking on the understanding that you realise the safety facilities in the developing world – in the vehicles, on the roads and at the tourist sites – often do not match ours in the west. Where the client does not suffer personal injury, the Company accepts liability should any part of the tour arrangements booked with Company not be supplied as described in the itinerary. However, we do not accept liability for compensation should there be no fault on the part of the Company or its suppliers and the reason for the failure in the tour arrangements was the client’s fault, the actions of someone unconnected with the tour arrangements or could not have been foreseen or avoided by the Company or its suppliers even if due care had been exercised.
Where the client does suffer personal injury or death as a result of an activity forming part of the tour arrangements booked with the Company, the same rules shall apply.
Our responsibility does not start until you meet the group or our overseas representative at the designated start point overseas; usually the airport in the city at the start of the trip. We are not responsible for any additional expenses incurred by you in getting to the meeting point. If the contract we have with you is not performed or is improperly performed as a result of failures attributable to a third party unconnected with the provision of the services, or as a result of failures due to unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised, or an event which we or our suppliers, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall, and you suffer an injury or other material loss, we will offer you such prompt assistance as is reasonable in the circumstances. Under EU law (Regulation 261/2004) you have rights in some circumstances to refunds and/or compensation from your airline in cases of denied boarding, cancellation or delay to flights.
Full details will be publicised at EU airports and available from airlines. However reimbursement in such cases will not automatically entitle you to a refund of your holiday cost from us. If any payments to you are due from us, any payment made to you by the airline will be deducted.
We promise to make sure that the trip 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. This means that, subject to these conditions and the other information which forms part of your contract with us, we will accept responsibility if, for example, you suffer death or personal injury or your contracted trip arrangements are not provided as promised or prove deficient as a result of the failure of ourselves, our employees, agents or suppliers to use reasonable skill and care in making, performing or providing, as applicable, your contracted trip arrangements.
Please note, it is your responsibility to show that reasonable skill and care has not been used if you wish to make a claim against us. In addition, we will only be responsible for what our employees, agents and suppliers do or do not do if they were at the time acting within the course of their employment (for employees) or carrying out work we had asked them to do (for agents and suppliers).
We will not be responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss (including loss possessions and loss of enjoyment), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any description whatsoever which results from any of the following: - the act(s) and/or omission(s) you or any member(s) of your party or the act(s) and/or omission(s) of a third party not connected with the provision of your trip and which were unavoidable and extraordinary or ‘force majeure’ as defined in clause 12 above
Please note, we cannot accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our contract. This includes, for example, any additional services or facilities which any supplier agrees to provide for you where the services or facilities are not advertised by us and we have not agreed to arrange them as part of our contract.
Any optional excursions or activities booked during your holiday do not form part of our contract as these are all arranged for you directly by the suppliers concerned. See ‘Optional excursions and activities’ below. In addition, regardless of any wording used by us on our website, in any advertising material or elsewhere, we only promise to use reasonable skill and care as set out above and we do not have any greater or different liability to you.
The promises we make to you about the services we have agreed to provide or arrange as part of our contract – and the laws and regulations of the country in which your claim or complaint occurred – will be used as the basis for deciding whether the services in question had been properly provided. Please bear in mind that standards of, for example, safety, hygiene, and quality may vary throughout the destinations, services and transport your trip involves and may be lower than or different to those applicable in the UK.
If the particular services which gave rise to the claim or complaint complied with the local laws and regulations applicable to those services at the time, the services will be treated as having been properly provided. This will be the case even if the services did not comply with the laws and regulations of the UK which would have applied had those services been provided in the UK. The exception to this is where the claim or complaint concerns the absence of a safety feature which might lead a reasonable holidaymaker to refuse to take the trip in question.
As set out in these conditions, we limit the maximum amount we may have to pay you for any claims you may make against us. We do not, however, limit or exclude our liability for death or personal injury caused by the negligence of ourselves or our employees (providing they were at the time acting within the course of their employment). Where we are found liable for loss of and/or damage to any luggage or personal possessions (including money), the maximum amount we will have to pay you is £500 per person affected unless a different limitation applies to your claim.
You must ensure you have appropriate travel insurance to protect your personal belongings. For all other claims which do not involve death or personal injury, if we are found liable to you on any basis, the maximum amount we will have to pay you is three times the price (excluding any amendment charges) paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected in total unless a lower limitation applies to your claim under the clause below. This maximum amount will only be payable where everything has gone wrong and you have not received any benefit at all from your trip.
Where any claim or part of a claim (including those involving death or personal injury) concerns or is based on any travel arrangements (including the process of getting on and/or off the transport concerned) provided by any air, sea, rail or road carrier, the maximum amount of compensation we will have to pay you will be limited. The most we will have to pay you for that claim or that part of a claim if we are found liable to you on any basis is the most the carrier concerned would have to pay under the international convention or regulation which applies to the travel arrangements in question were that claim made against it (for example, the Warsaw Convention 1929 as amended or unamended and the Montreal Convention 1999 for international travel by air and/or for airlines with an operating licence granted by an EU country, the EC Regulation on Air Carrier Liability No 889/2002 for national and international travel by air, the Athens Convention 1974 for international travel by sea and COTIF, the Convention on International Travel by Rail.
Please note: where a carrier would not be obliged to make any payment to you under the applicable international convention or regulation in respect of a claim or part of a claim, we similarly are not obliged to make a payment to you for that claim or part of the claim. When making any payment, we are entitled to deduct any money which you have received or are entitled to receive from the carrier or hotelier for the complaint or claim in question. Copies of the applicable international conventions and regulations are available from us on request.
Please note, we cannot accept any liability for any damage, loss, expense or other sum(s) of any description (1) which on the basis of the information given to us by you concerning your booking prior to our accepting it, we could not have foreseen you would suffer or incur if we breached our contract with you or (2) which did not result from any breach of contract or other fault by ourselves or our employees or, where we are responsible for them, our suppliers. Additionally we cannot accept liability for any expenses or losses incurred by or relating to any business including self-employed loss of earnings.
You must provide ourselves and our insurers with all assistance we may reasonably require. You must also tell us and the supplier concerned about your claim or complaint. If asked to do so, you must transfer to us or our insurers any rights you have against the supplier or whoever else is responsible for your claim or complaint (if the person concerned is under 18, their parent or guardian must do so). You must also agree to cooperate fully with us and our insurers if we or our insurers want to enforce any rights which are transferred.
Where it is impossible for you to return to your departure point as per the agreed return date of your package, due to “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances”, we shall provide you with any necessary accommodation (where possible, of a comparable standard) for a period not exceeding three nights per person. Please note that the 3 night cap does not apply to persons with reduced mobility, pregnant women or unaccompanied minors, nor to persons needing specific medical assistance, provided we have been notified of these particular needs in advance. For the purposes of this clause, “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” mean warfare, acts of terrorism, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or weather conditions which make it impossible to travel safely back to your departure point.
Flights/Transport/Delays
The timings of air, sea, road or rail departures are estimates only. Subject to clause above “If we change or cancel your trip”, we cannot accept any liability for any change, cancellation or delay in your transportation from or to the UK or during your trip whether any change, cancellation or delay is caused by adverse weather conditions, rescheduling by a transport supplier, airline or airport authority, action by air traffic controllers, mechanical breakdown, industrial action or any other event or circumstance outside our control.
Where long flight delays result in lost trip time, no refunds are given by hotels or suppliers. Similarly, except where the Denied Boarding Regulations apply, airlines do not offer compensation for flight delays. However, at their discretion your carrier will endeavour to reduce the inconvenience of any delay by providing meals and accommodation, as appropriate for the time of day or night (dependent on local availability), if you are delayed for more than 12 hours. If you incur payments for any services in the event of a delay, we will not accept responsibility for payment unless we have given our prior consent.
If your flight is cancelled or delayed, your flight ticket is downgraded or boarding is denied by your airline, depending on the circumstance, the airline may be required to pay you compensation, refund the cost of your flight and/or provide you with accommodation and/or refreshments under the EC Regulations No 261/2004 – the Denied Boarding Regulations 2004 where applicable you must pursue the airline directly for the compensation or other payments due to you. All sums you receive or are entitled to receive from the airline concerned by virtue of these Regulations represent the full amount of your entitlement to compensation or any other payment arising from such cancellation, delay, downgrading or denied boarding. This includes any disappointment, distress, inconvenience or effect on any other arrangements.
The fact a delay may entitle you to cancel your flight does not automatically entitle you to cancel any other arrangements even where those arrangements have been made in conjunction with your flight. We have no liability to make any payment to you in relation to the Denied Boarding Regulations or in respect of any flight cancellation or delay, downgrading of any flight ticket or denial of any boarding as the full amount of your entitlement to any compensation or other payment (as dealt with above) is covered by the airline’s obligations under the Denied Boarding Regulations. If for any reason, we make any payment to you or a third party which the airline is responsible for in accordance with the Denied Boarding Regulations, you must, when requested, assign to us the rights you have or had to claim the payment in question from the airline. If your airline does not comply with these rules, you should complain to the CAA at https://www.caa.co.uk/
Insurance
You must have travel insurance when you travel with us. You and your belongings are at all times solely at your own risk. You are wholly responsible for arranging your own insurance. You must ensure that you have personal travel insurance with protection for the full duration of the trip in respect of at least medical expenses, injury, death, repatriation, cancellation and curtailment, with adequate and appropriate cover including medical emergency helicopter rescue. If you make your own arrangements you should ensure that there are no exclusion clauses limiting or excluding protection for the type of activities included in your trip. You must ensure that all travel insurance purchased meets your particular requirements and you should arrange supplementary insurance if need be.
Passport, Visa and Immigration Requirements
You are responsible for arranging, and must have, a valid, acceptable passport and any visas and vaccination certificates required for your entire journey and trip. Any information we give about these matters or related items (climate, clothing, baggage, personal gear etc) is given in good faith but without responsibility on our part. We regret we cannot accept any liability if you are refused entry onto any transport or into any country due to failure on your part to carry all required documentation. If your failure to have any necessary travel or other documents results in fines, surcharges or other financial penalty being imposed on us, you will be responsible for reimbursing us accordingly.
Age & Health requirements
A minimum age of 18 applies to many of our group tours. Please check with your consultant or agent at the time of enquiry. For the majority of our trips we have no upper age limit though we remind you that our trips can be physically demanding and passengers must ensure that they are suitably fit to allow full participation.
Our small group adventures bring together people of all ages. It is very important you are aware that an average level of fitness and mobility is required to undertake our easiest programs. Travellers must be able to walk without the aid of another person, climb 3-4 flights of stairs, step on and off small boats, and carry their own luggage at a minimum. Travellers with a pre-existing medical condition are required to complete a short medical questionnaire, which must be signed by their GP / physician. This is to ensure that travellers have the necessary fitness and mobility to comfortably complete their chosen trip. While our tour leaders work hard to ensure that all our travellers are catered for equally, it is not their responsibility to help individuals who cannot complete the day’s activities unaided. Please refer to the fitness ratings in the tour dossier document for more information.
If you or any member of your party has any medical condition or disability which may affect your holiday or has any special requirements as a result of any medical condition or disability (including any which affect the booking process), please tell us before you confirm your booking so that we can assist you in considering the suitability of the arrangements and/or making the booking. In any event, you must give us full details in writing at the time of booking and whenever any change in the condition or disability occurs. You must also promptly advise us if any medical condition or disability which may affect your holiday develops after your booking has been confirmed.
If we reasonably 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 or the condition / disability develops after booking, cancel when we become aware of these details. Our Local Tour Ltd reserves the right at any time to require the Client to produce a doctor’s / physicians certificate certifying that the Client is fit to participate in the tour.
We are able to provide details on mandatory health requirements; however, we are not medical experts. It is your responsibility to ensure that you obtain proper and detailed medical advice at least two months prior to travel for the latest health requirements and recommendations for your destination.
Tour participation and client responsibility
You agree to accept the authority and decisions of our employees, tour leaders and agents whilst on tour with us. If in the opinion of any such person(s) or any other person in a position of authority (such as, for example, an airline pilot or hotel manager), your health, level of fitness or conduct at any time before or during a tour is endangering or appears likely to endanger your health or wellbeing or any third party (including any other clients of the Company) or the safe, comfortable or happy progress of the tour, you may be excluded from all or part of the tour without refund or recompense. Where you are excluded, we will have no further responsibility towards you (including any return travel arrangements) and we will not meet any expenses or costs incurred as a result of the exclusion.
In the case of ill health, we may make such arrangements we see fit and recover the costs thereof from you. If you commit an illegal act (including, for example, causing any damage) you may be excluded from the tour and we shall cease to have responsibility to/for you as above. No refund will be given for any unused services.
When you book with us, you accept responsibility for any damage or loss caused by you or any member of your party. Full payment for any such damage or loss (reasonably estimated if not precisely known) must be made direct to the accommodation owner or manager or other supplier or to us as soon as possible. If the actual cost of the loss or damage exceeds the amount paid where estimated, you must pay the difference once known. If the actual cost is less than the amount paid, the difference will be refunded. You will also be responsible for meeting any claims subsequently made against us and all costs incurred by us (including our own and the other party’s full legal costs) as a result of your actions. You should ensure you have appropriate travel insurance to protect you if this situation arises.
Please note, that if requested we do not provide client details to other clients on the same tour before or after departure.
If you have any medical condition or disability which may affect your active participation in your tour or the tour arrangements of any other person or have any special requirements as a result of any medical condition or disability (including any which affect the booking process), please tell us before you confirm your booking so that we can assist you in considering the suitability of the proposed tour and/or making the booking. In any event, you must give us full details at the time of booking and whenever any change in the condition or disability occurs. You must also promptly advise us if any medical condition or disability which may affect your active participation in your tour or the tour arrangements of any other person develops after your booking has been confirmed.
If you have a complaint
If you have a complaint about any of your tour arrangements, you must tell our relevant local supplier at the time. In the event that your complaint cannot be resolved by our local representative at the time, please contact our U.K. office directly. You may contact our office by telephone and outside of our normal opening hours calls and messages are monitored on a regular basis. Alternatively, we can be contacted by email. Contact details are provided on your tour voucher.
It is only if we and the supplier know about problems that there will be the opportunity to put things right. If you don’t complain on the spot this may affect your ability to claim compensation. If your complaint is not resolved on the spot or by contacting our office directly at the time, then you should notify us in writing within 28 days of the end of your trip by writing to our Customer Services Department at Our Local Tour Ltd, Collingwood Buildings, 38 Collingwood Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 1JF giving your booking reference and all other relevant information.
If you fail to follow this simple procedure, we will have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify your complaint whilst you were in the destination and this may affect your rights under this contract.
If, despite our best efforts and having followed the above procedure for reporting and resolving your complaint, you feel that it has not been satisfactorily settled, we recommend that it is referred for arbitration under the ABTOT Travel Industry Arbitration Service. An Independent Arbitrator will review the documents relating to any complaint and deliver a binding decision to bring the matter to a close. A fee is payable by each party when an application for arbitration is submitted.
Details of this scheme are available from The Travel Industry Arbitration Service, administered by:
Dispute Settlement Services
9 Savill Road
Lindfield
West Sussex
RH16 2NY
E-mail: admin@disputesettlementservices.co.uk
This scheme cannot however decide in cases where the sums claimed exceed £5,000 per person or £10,000 per booking form, or not solely or mainly in respect of physical injury or illness or the consequences of such injury or illness, or solely or mainly in respect of a discrimination claim or any claim under the Equality Act.