Airport Express - Terms & Conditions 2010 1. VOLCANIC ASH TRAVEL PROBLEMS (April 2010) Anyone who has flight disrutions is directed to contact their travel company or insurance company for resolution for any loss resulting in from the ash clouds. NOTE: Airport Express and all services it offers are governed by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982... If your return travel is disrupted by the ash clouds and your company decides to reschedule your return travel we cannot and will not be held liable for any loss resulting from their decision to modify your travel schedule. If you feel this is unfair, as required by UK law you are required to write a letter to us to detail your issues. We will not take calls from passengers who feel we are responsible for the disrution of travel due to their travel companies changes to any travel schedule or subsequent disruption. If you choose to book with us during this problematic period you accept that you are aware that any problems or complecations caused by the ash clouds and subsequent travel disruption os the responsibility of your travel or holiday company. Do not book with us if you are confused about this. However, we will explain the situation to you in writing if you request this. We will however offer a 25% discount coupon to anyone who suffers disruption from the ash cloud, contact us to apply for the voucher. 2. When you book your airport transfer with Airport Express we work within set guidelines. We have adopted a set of standards to ensure we do a professional job. We also expect all our customers to read our terms & conditions. We offer these terms & conditions to all passengers and we will stick to these at all times. 3. Paying for travel - All passengers are expected to pay for travel either in advance via credit card or when they are dropped off at the airport for outbound travel in cash. Paying for travel in advance helps protect customers rights and also ensures our drivers also. Our fees include discount for your return travel, you will be expected to pay the outbound fee when we drop you off. You may pay the return fee when we pick you up on your return. 4. Receipt for payment - All passengers are entitled to a receipt for what they have paid to us. Our drivers carry receipt books and will fill a receipt it if you ask for one. A receipt for the return section of your travel will only be offered on your return. Copies of all receipts are kept in the office and are available for inspection upon request by authorized persons only. Payments for travel electronically, IE via card or by PayPal will automatically generate a receipt for the person paying the fees when they pay as long as they have completed the payment form with an email address. 5. Lost baggage - When you arrive back at the airport and have realized your luggage has been misplaced you must contact us as soon as possible to let us know there will be a delay. It is often the case that lost luggage may delay a passenger by as much as 2hrs. If you do not let us know there is a problem, we will assume you have missed your flight and we may leave the airport. We will normally only wait at the airport for 1HR after a flight has landed if the passenger has not been in contact with us. It is your responsibility to contact us when you arrive, we will not normally make contact with you. All passengers are handed a business card when they arrive at the airport, if your mobile phone battery is dead, use a public phone, there are many in the airport baggage area and the arrival lounge. If you make no contact with us within the required time period and your driver has left the airport you will not be entitled to a refund as we will have completed our segment of the fare. 6. Baby Seats - Passengers requiring baby seats can request either a baby or toddler seat at no extra charge, the seat will be secured by the driver in the car. The driver will also secure your child of you request this. If the passenger secures their own child, the driver will ask if you are confident the child is secure before moving away. If you have any questions or problems you must inform the driver right away. If your child unsecure them self from the seat inform the driver right away. If the passenger request to hold their own child the driver will inform you this is at your own risk and you are responsible for the Childs safety. Carrying a baby on your lap is not advisable for obvious safety reasons. 7. Drop off point at airport - when you are dropped off at the airport the driver will offer you a business card with all contact information for airport express. You will also be given a car (A6 Postcard) with specific information of what to do upon your return. This card is numbered individually with a reference number, we keep this number for our records and use it to reference which card you were given in case of Problems with your return. Read the card, keep it with your travel tickets and use it upon your return to assist you in getting picked up. This card has the night number for the night time driver. The driver will drop off at all times at the same place or very close to the same place. The driver will make the passenger aware of this and request the passenger to return to this pick up place upon their return to the airport. The driver will not drive around looking for the passenger at any time. If you are confused please ask for this to be explained again. 8. Passenger Pick up - When you arrive back at the airport all passengers are expected to call us right away, or as soon as it is safe to do so as recommended by the airport. Do not wait till you are leaving the airport exit doors to make contact, your driver will only wait a maximum of 1HR after your flight has landed if he has not had any call to confirm you are at the airport. If your mobile phone battery is dead, use a public phone, there are many in the airport baggage area and the arrival lounge. If you make no contact with us within the required time period (1HR) and your driver has left the airport you will not be entitled to a refund. 9. If we have attended the airport and for any reason we are late or there is a delay in finding you, if you decide to get into any other vehicle, or public transport etc we will not be held liable for any costs incurred by yourself. you will not be liable either for a refund due to the fact we had attended the airport. As stated above, you must call us when you land, if we are delayed we will inform you of this then and ask you to wait in the terminal till we find you. If you wait till you leave the airport to call and we are delayed there is nothing we can do to help other than ask you to wait till we arrive. If you decide to leave we are not liable in any way for any costs incurred. 10. Delayed Flights - if you are aware that your flight is delayed before you board the flight you must contact us right away to let us know this information. We can check with the airport services after your return to see if you were informed and if the passengers were informed of any delay and will not use as a valid reason that you were not informed. If your phone does not work overseas use the public phones in the airport. Calling cards are available at most airport. Our schedule might not allow us to be at the airport for your revised return time. If we visit the airport to collect you and your flight is delayed and you do not inform us, we will possibly have to leave the airport and your return fare will not be returned as a refund. 11. Cancelled flights - if you are aware that your flight is cancelled contact us right away to let us know this information. We can check with the airport services after your return to see if you were informed before you fly and if the passengers were informed of any cancellation and will not use as a valid reason and you will not receive any refund. If your phone does not work overseas use the public phones in the airport. Calling cards are available at most airports. Our schedule might not allow us to be at the airport for your revised return time. If we visit the airport to collect you and your flight is cancelled/delayed and you do not inform us, we will have to leave the airport and your return fare will not be returned. If you fly into another airport and do not inform us, if you have prepaid you will not be entitled to a refund. 12. Vehicle damage by passenger - all damaged to any vehicle it must be paid for by the person who did it. If the damage is considered malicious we will promptly inform the police and hand over all details referring the person who did the damage. By booking with us you are agreeing to this and will be held liable for all damaged including damage to the fabric seat, flooring doors, windows and all other items, this includes any food, spilt drinks and bodily fluids, slamming doors too hard and any damage will also be billed to the customer. 13. Bad weather conditions - if weather conditions prevents us from picking you up at your home or business you will be informed as soon as we can, via phone call text or email. We do not expect you to confirm you have been informed as we have no control over what you do with the information we offer you. If weather conditions prevents us from picking you up at the airport you will be informed as soon as we can, via phone call text or email. We do not expect you to confirm you have been informed as we have no control over what you do with the information we offer you. We may not actually be able to contact you before you fly, this is unfortunate but is sometimes unavoidable. If you fly into the airport in the early hours of the morning and our office is closed you may have no way to contact us till the office opens the following day. Any refunds due will be given as soon as possible after your return. We will however have made every attempt to contact you about the situation at hand. 14. Abusive customers - any customer who during transit is abusive or rude to a driver may be returned to their pick up place with immediate effect. Our drivers will not tolerate bad language or abusive behavior from adults or children. Any passenger who is physically abusive will be ejected from the vehicle or driven to the nearest police station and reported. Any passenger who is abusive over the phone will be advised the call is coming to and end and to put any suggestions or comments in writing to the head office. We do not argue with customers for any reason, we will end all calls with immediate effect.All abusive passengers will be reported to the council or police accordingly. Refunds will not be given for any abusive or rude passenger. 15. Airport Express Cancellations - If we have to cancel a booking the passenger will be given as much notice as we can give. We will not always give the reason for the cancelation due to possible privacy reasons. If you have paid for your travel you will be given a refund where appropriate. 16. Refunds - Anyone who is due a refund will be given a refund as soon as we can. If payment was made electronically then the refund will be electronic. Cash payments will either be made in person or via recorded delivery post. We will not offer refunds at the office. Reasons we will not offer refunds are: Passengers who book and prepay for travel who do not give us 24hr notice about cancellation. Passengers whose flights are cancelled and we are not informed in time to stop a driver going to the airport. Passengers whose flights are late and we are not informed in time to stop a driver going to the airport. Passengers who book a 4 Seater taxi and when we collect them have more than 4 passengers. Passengers who are ejected from the taxi for abusive behavior. Passengers who make their own way home without waiting for our driver to attend. Passengers who get into the incorrect vehicle, IE wrong taxi... We reserve the right to refuse refunds based on situations which have not yet happened. 17. Office telephone line opening times - our telephone lines are on 24hrs a day. The office line is open 8am till 10pm. The phone lines are forwarded after this to a driver on duty. If no driver is on duty no one will pick up. We advertise we operate 365 days per year but if there are no bookings for a certain day we reserve the right to have a day off! 18. A1(M) Traffic Conditions - we advise all passengers that we have no control over traffic conditions on any roads in the area. It is suggested that an average of 1HR minimum should be given for any transfer to the airport. Do not expect to be transferred to the airport any quicker than 1HR. If the A1(M) is closed or there is such congestion that the driver feels an alternative route would be advantageous then the passengers will be informed and a different may be taken. If the Tyne Tunnel is used the passenger will be expected to pay the tunnel tariff of £1.20 (each way). If the road conditions are so bad there is no way of getting to the airport the passenger will still be charged for the journey and taken wither back to the pick up place or to a place or mutual agreement by the passenger and driver. As per any travel arrangement the passenger would be expected to claim on their travel insurance for loss of money due to weather. If we turn up and do our best we expect to be paid. 19. Return flight collection point at airport - When you get off the plane, call us to let us know you are home as soon as possible. We expect you to do this and you will have been verbally explained on your departure what we want you to do. Call us so we know your back. We normally wait outside the airport area until the passenger makes a second call to let us know they have their bags and are leaving the building to return to the pick up place. We will drive into the airport car park and stop at the same place you were dropped off. We normally always park in the same place. Call us if you do not see us. If it is raining or very cold, wait in the terminal till we arrive, our driver will coordinate this when you contact us. 20. Price policies - Our prices are different depending on where you live and how many people are picked up, there are also charges to be added for parking, congestion charges and tunnel charges. The passenger will be expected to pay these charges. No discount is offered for any fares, we are very reasonably priced to start with. We do not normally expect the passenger to pay for anything that is unusual. If you feel you have been overcharged call our office to double check the fees. 21. Lost items in vehicle - you must inform us right away of the left any item in the vehicle. If you do not, another passenger may pick up your item by accident and remove it from the vehicle. We have no control over this. Any items we find we will return to you if we know whose it is. There may be a charge for returning your lost items. We cannot deliver your item to you for free. 22. Forgotten your passport - if you have left your passport and need to return for it, we cannot guarantee we will have time to accommodate taking you home to get it. If we do take you back for your passport you will be expected to pay again for the trip. There will be no free fares for any reason. We do not accept IOU's for travel and the passenger will be expected to pay right away. 23. left a bag or suitcase at home - if you have left your passport and need to return for it, we cannot guarantee we will have time to accommodate taking you home to get it. If we do take you back for your passport you will be expected to pay again for the trip. There will be no free fares for any reason. We do not accept IOU's for travel and the passenger will be expected to pay right away. 24. Complaints We are licensed by local council, should you have a complaint you would need to write to them. Our service is governed by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and we suggest a written complaint to your local trading standards office. Alternatively we suggest if you have any issues, contact us directly so we can help you quickly resolve any problems. We do not publish our office address and do not welcome visitors without appointments. Email us at airport365@live.co.uk and use the title COMPLAINT. You will get a swift reply. It is our intension to resolve any problem quickly. 25. Our telephone lines are open as follows: T: 0191-371-2352 8am till 10pm T: 0844-247-7678 8am till 10pm M: 0793-658-5799 8am till 10pm M: 0790-822-7577 Night Number - Use this number if arriving at the airport after 10pm at night 26. Prices Guide Winter 2009/2010 Special Offer 4 Seater car Durham to Newcastle £30 One way £50 Return Newcastle to Durham £30 One way £50 Return Durham to Leeds Bradford £85 One way £160 Return Newcastle to Leeds Bradford £100 One way £160 Return Durham to Manchester £165 One way £300 Return Newcastle to Manchester £185 One way £320 Return Northeast to Heathrow £285 One way Prices Guide Winter 2009/2010 Special Offer minibus Durham to Newcastle £40 One way £60 Return Newcastle to Durham £40 One way £60 Return Durham to Leeds Bradford £100 One way £180 Return Newcastle to Leeds Bradford £120 One way £190 Return Durham to Manchester £300 One way £600 Return Northeast to Heathrow £400 One way We normally charge a higher rate for a single trip and offer discount for the return trip, IE £30 one way £50 return, only an extra £20 for the return. This is normally explained to you when you book. Data protection. Our records are private and we reserve the right to NOT discuss passenger information over the phone to anyone. These Terms & Conditions are subject to change at any time and will be updated at intervals to make sure the document is correct. Update Vs.1.4