9. OUR LIABILITY TO YOU
We accept responsibility for your arrangements as an “organiser” under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangement Regulations 2018 as set out in this clause. As such, we promise to make sure that the arrangements we have agreed to make, perform or provide as part of our contract with you are carried out with reasonable skill and care. This means that, subject to these Booking Conditions, we will accept responsibility if, for example, you suffer death or personal injury, or your contracted 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.
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 the actions of employees, agents, and suppliers if they were 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 (for example, loss of enjoyment or possessions), damage, expense, cost or other sum or claim of any nature or description which results from any of the following:
• the act(s) and/or omission(s) of the person(s) affected; or
• the act(s) and/or omission(s) of a third party not connected with the provision of your holiday and which were unforeseeable or unavoidable; or
• unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances (as defined in
Clause 8)
We cannot accept responsibility for any services which do not form part of our contract. This includes any excursion or activities you purchase during your holiday and additional services or facilities provided by hotels and other suppliers which we have not advertised in our brochure or on our website and have not agreed to arrange as part of our contract. Please see
Clause 19 “Excursions and activities”. 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, and the laws and applicable standards of the country in which your claim occurred, will be used as the basis for deciding whether the services in question had been properly provided. If the services which give rise to the claim were provided in accordance with local laws and standards, 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 standards of the UK which would have applied had those services been provided in the UK.
The exception to this is where the claim concerns the absence of a safety feature which might lead a reasonable holidaymaker to refuse to take the holiday in question. Please note, however, our obligation is to exercise reasonable skill and care as referred to in this Clause. We do not make any representation or commitment that all services will comply with applicable local laws and standards. Failure to comply does not automatically mean we have not exercised reasonable skill and care.
Except as set out in this Clause or as otherwise permitted by English law, we do not limit the amount of damages you are entitled to claim in respect of personal injury or death which we or our employees have caused intentionally or negligently. For all other claims, unless a limitation applies under this Clause, if we are found liable to you on any basis, the maximum amount we will have to pay you is three times the total holiday cost (excluding any amendment charges) paid by or on behalf of the person(s) affected in total. This maximum amount will only be payable where the circumstances of the claim justify this.
Where a claim concerns or is based on travel arrangements (including without limitation, the process of getting on and/or off the transport concerned) provided by any air, sea or rail carrier to which any international convention or EU regulation applies where we have arranged that travel as part of our contract, our liability (including the maximum amount of damages/compensation we will have to pay you, the types of claim and the circumstances in which damages/compensation will be payable) will be limited as if we were the carrier in question as referred to in this Clause. The most we will have to pay you for that claim if we are found liable to you on any basis is the most the carrier concerned would have to pay you under the international convention or EU regulation which applies to the travel arrangements in question. Such conventions and regulations include the Warsaw Convention as amended or un-amended 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, EC Regulation 392/2009 on the liability of carriers of passengers by sea in the event of accidents and the Athens Convention relating to the carriage of passengers and their luggage by sea 1974 for international travel by sea (as amended by the 2002 protocol), the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims as amended by the 1996 protocol and the Convention of 1980 concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) as amended. Where a carrier would not be obliged to make any payment to you under the applicable international convention or EU regulation (including where any claim is not notified and issued in accordance with the stipulated time limits), we, similarly, are not obliged to make a payment to you for that claim. When making a payment, we will deduct any money you have received or are entitled to receive from the carrier for the claim in question. Copies of the applicable international conventions and EU regulations are available from us on request. Please note that strict time limits apply for notifying loss, damage, or delay of luggage to the airline or ferry / cruise operator. Any proceedings in respect of any claim (including one for personal injury or death) must be brought within 2 years of the date stipulated in the applicable convention or EU regulation.
We cannot accept any liability for any damage, loss, expense or other sum(s) of any nature which (a) 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 (b) 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 or (c) relates to any business (including without limitation, loss of self-employed earnings).
In accordance with the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, if your holiday includes return travel to the UK and we are unable to ensure your return on the contracted date due to unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances laid out, we will arrange or meet the cost of any necessary accommodation (which will be of a comparable standard to your contracted accommodation where reasonably possible) for up to 3 nights per person. This 3-night limit does not apply to people with reduced mobility, those who are pregnant or unaccompanied minors. It also does not apply to people needing specific medical assistance, provided we have been notified of these needs at least 48 hours in advance of departure.