Ooo I find this soo unjust that I'm actually quite annoyed. Am sure National Holidays will have somewhere in their terms and conditions that they can cancel due to low numbers which they did for the April booking. They move the holiday back to May then cancel that one also. Notice they don't have any availability for June/July/August and most part of September. By this point 6 months have passed since your parents original wish to go on holiday, (that's the way I would argue this case - I wished to go in April and ended up having to go at the end of September - 6 months later - I don't think is acceptable or did they say your parents could cancel at any stage?).

Your parents could, indeed have claimed on their holiday insurance as it was an accident and nothing to do with any medical condition either of them may have. I just wish they hadn't accepted the £70 which I think is atrocious of National Express. They may still be able to claim but they'd need to speak to their insurance company.

We have a group of solicitors Simpson Millar - their contact details are at the top of this forum. Get in touch with them and say you were sent by Holidaytruths and would like some free advice on what, if anything (because your parents have accepted the refund) they can do next.

Good luck and I hope your mam recovers soon.

Thanks Glynis,

Unfortunately, I would have warned them not to accept anything but I thought a company like National Holidays, who get a lot of more mature holidaymakers, would be pretty decent and I really don't think my mum has it in her to kick up a 'fuss' now. I think I'm more angry than her at the moment, especially as my mum never complained when they canceled and just accepted their alternative arrangements.

Do you know if it will effect her insurance premiums next year if she claims for this as it might not be worth claiming their annual cover next year goes sky high (they usually go abroad a few times a year).

Thanks again Glynis, if it was me and not my mum I would certainly contact the solicitors you mention.

Karen

Am not sure if it will effect next years insurance I would hope not as it's not a great amount. Best thing I'd suggest is to give them a call and explain the situation your parents are in and see what they say.

I'd definitely write a letter to their head office

National Holidays
The Travel Centre
Springfield Way
Anlaby
Hull HU10 6RJ

Send it recorded delivery and mark it for the Chief Executive. Or ring 0844 477 9990 and ask for his name so you can mark it for his attention.

Another number for National Holidays is 01482 572 572

I used to work for a UK Coach Holiday operator. They all have it in their T&C's about cancelling due to lack of numbers. You would usually be offered at least a transfer or a refund. The same should have happened after the second cancellation. Unfortunately now, as it is slow close to departure date, they will be into hefty cancellation charges, hence the low refund. It will be treated like any other client cancelllation as the short fall should be claimed from their insurance company.

I have made a couple of large claims on my annual policy but it has never affected the following years premium but each company probably works differently so couldn't say definately.

I would just add that it is surprising how many people who book coach holidays don't bother with travel insurance for UK travel. We always offered insurance to cover the cancellation to be told many times, 'no thanks, I'm not going to cancel'!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone

I can understand the coach company (in a way)- it is very close to the departure date and my mum is insured. I think what made it seem unfair was the fact the holiday had been cancelled twice by them previously and the National Holidays have had the money in their bank account since before their original travel date!

Why we're worried about the insurance is that she takes annual cover but being a pensioner - it is quite 'loaded' anyway. Anyway she is going to make enquiries about that and she's going to write a letter to head office - she's nothing to lose doing that.

Thanks again

are uk tour drivers in europe allowed to drink beer the night before taking out customers on tours the following day. also are the drivers allowed to sell beer on the coach in france or italy. your views please.

I wouldn't have thought so to either. Our coach driver stocked up on a rake of beer and wine on our return from Belgium but didn't offer to sell us any on the coach.

First question - is this something to do with National Holidays? this thread has already had to be heavily edited once because of mispostings involving another company!

Answer to first question. They can probably do whatever they want the night before - what matters is their blood alcohol level when they get back on the coach. Then it gets interesting, obviously they would have to be legal for that country but if the other country had a slacker limit than the UK (not many do) and there was a crash and the driver passed the local limit but failed UK (assuming you found out) the operator may have a UK liablity to the passengers for failing to properly supervise. If he failed the local limit he would be liable under their laws, the operator might be as well and the operator could still be liable under UK law.

Resales of alcohol on the coach would be subject to local licensing laws (if there were any), I've seen German coaches where it was done in Italy.

update to my previous post this is to do with national holidays on our outward journey to italy on the ferry boarded at dover all the drivers went to buy beer when we entered france they sold the beer on the bus with water soft drinks etc. they said it was against the law in the uk but not in europe.to sell beer. your views please.

Never noticed what our driver was doing on the ferry going out to Belgium, but will keep an eye out when we go on the 1st Nov I don't think I'll be too pleased if I see him supping alcohol on the ferry!

regarding tippi's original post......

did your parents have sort of insurance with the coach company?

reason i ask is, my parents had booked a week away in england, and then my mum broke her leg and spent a week in hospital and needed 3 operations....

when i looked into the small print to cancel there holiday, i found out they had paid a small amount for insurance with the comapny, this was included in the price of the holiday....

as there was only 10 days until they should have gone away, i contacted the holiday company who were excellent, they sent a form for the hospital doctor to fill in, and then they repaid all the money minus £50....

please check to see if they had paid for any additional insurance with the company.....

glynis what i ment was the two drivers went on the ferry to the duty free shop bought boxes of bottles of beer mind this was about five differant coaches of drivers as well as our drivers to go to italy. once we were on french soil out came the bottles of beer 1euro 50 cents beer i euro water and soft drinks. they were not drinking what they bought on the ferry as the box of beer loocked intact when we boarded the coach. my point to these post is it ilegal what they are doing in france italy etc.

K&R wrote:

reason i ask is, my parents had booked a week away in england, and then my mum broke her leg and spent a week in hospital and needed 3 operations....

Karen each time I've booked insurance has been separate ie you have a choice. I booked over the phone, & I remember being asked as one of our party has annual insurance. Still worth checking though as Tippi's parents may have accepted.

Allan if you mean them selling the beer on the coach I've no idea if it's legal or not - sorry

allan

French and Italian law on alcohol sales is generally a lot softer than UK so selling it may not be illegal. It would be illegal in the UK unless they had a licence, there are also laws about having open alcohol on coaches in England (and Wales) wherever it was bought. There is the small issue of the tax - if they bought it duty free on the boat it's supposed to be for personal use by the purchaser so the French/ Italian authorities might have a claim!

thanks steve.

Hi Everyone

I would just like to thank everyone who replied to my original post. I am happy to say that my mum simply sent a polite letter to National Holidays and they have responded immediately and offered them a full refund.

It shows it does pay to follow things up. I think in this case the staff in the local National Holidays office simply didn't have the power to bend the rules in extenuating circumstances and the refund needed to come from higher up.

So good news for my mum and more importantly her faith has been restored in National Holidays.

Excellent new Tippi and well done National Holidays

Many thanks for letting us know.

tippi

can you just clarify where National Express came into this - they are a different company and don't have a lot of offices anyway.