Coach cancellation
Discussion
Bit of a weird one, but meant to be going Leicester vs. Liverpool tomorrow morning, 53 of us booked onto a coach (was booked about 6-8 weeks ago), yet today the coach company (at around midday) have said that they will not be taking us as they shouldn't have accepted the booking, it was a mistake from the employee and that the employee has now been sacked.
They said they'll refund the coach travel, which is fair enough, but said it'll take a couple of days to clear. In the mean time we're supposed to front up another 1.7k to book with another coach company, which is virtually impossible given the amount of lads and the length of time we've got to do so. Rang a couple of companies and they've said no spare buses, the official football club have said there's nothing we can do.
We've all paid £30 (£32 if you're including booking fees) for tickets, which we won't get refunded from the club.
I have written an email asking for the exact reasons why the coach was cancelled and am waiting for a response.
Is there anything else we can do other than accept we've all lost £30, or should we be trying to get them back from the coach company as well? Is there any place that we could take this further (transport ombudsmen or something)? Small claims court maybe? £30 isn't a lot of money but when it's 53x£30 it is.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
They said they'll refund the coach travel, which is fair enough, but said it'll take a couple of days to clear. In the mean time we're supposed to front up another 1.7k to book with another coach company, which is virtually impossible given the amount of lads and the length of time we've got to do so. Rang a couple of companies and they've said no spare buses, the official football club have said there's nothing we can do.
We've all paid £30 (£32 if you're including booking fees) for tickets, which we won't get refunded from the club.
I have written an email asking for the exact reasons why the coach was cancelled and am waiting for a response.
Is there anything else we can do other than accept we've all lost £30, or should we be trying to get them back from the coach company as well? Is there any place that we could take this further (transport ombudsmen or something)? Small claims court maybe? £30 isn't a lot of money but when it's 53x£30 it is.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
My guess is their T&C will limit their liability. Have you checked their terms?
The lad that booked it said their T&Cs were 74 pages long, so haven't had time to read that today as been trying to ring around to sort another coach out.Even if we can't get the money back I hope we can publicly slaughter them.
Very disappointed in the club saying there's nothing they can do (the club also use them for their official club coaches), just shows you're just a number.
pavarotti1980 said:
Instead of a coach what about 4 x minibus? might have more chance
Literally struggling with availability now and obviously the time of day. Had a couple of quotes for a couple of minibuses but it means half the lads missing out and us fronting another £50 each, before we've even had the refund for the original bus. We'll have spent £120 before we've even left Leicester 
There's absolutely no chance they'll be on the hook for consequential loss. Which makes sense when you think about the possible implications - all 53 of you could have missed your flight to join that once-in-a-lifetime round-the-world cruise, after all. No insurance company is underwriting that risk.
Leicester Loyal said:
(the club also use them for their official club coaches)
Have you tried asking Jim if he could sort anything or give you a number? Pre Covid I was on the away priority scheme and used the official coaches almost everywhere so I know who you mean.What about asking horse and cart if they have any free coaches to hire?
ETA. I’m surprised they said they have no coaches available as they’re part of Stewart’s group, Kings Ferry and further on National Express if I’m correct so a large pool to draw from like when they take 50-70 coaches for Wembley games.
Edited by Promised Land on Thursday 29th December 17:29
Promised Land said:
Have you tried asking Jim if he could sort anything or give you a number? Pre Covid I was on the away priority scheme and used the official coaches almost everywhere so I know who you mean.
What about asking horse and cart if they have any free coaches to hire?
ETA. I’m surprised they said they have no coaches available as they’re part of Stewart’s group, Kings Ferry and further on National Express if I’m correct so a large pool to draw from like when they take 50-70 coaches for Wembley games.
Yeah, I know Jim personally and he's said nothing they can do.What about asking horse and cart if they have any free coaches to hire?
ETA. I’m surprised they said they have no coaches available as they’re part of Stewart’s group, Kings Ferry and further on National Express if I’m correct so a large pool to draw from like when they take 50-70 coaches for Wembley games.
Edited by Promised Land on Thursday 29th December 17:29
The coach company have now said they were unaware of the booking until 27th December and won't be paying for any match day tickets, essentially suck up the 1.6k loss (match tickets). They said they shouldn't have taken the booking.
Whcih is all fair enough, but they haven't sent the refund, so we can't book anything else to travel on tomorrow.
Edited by Leicester Loyal on Thursday 29th December 17:38
iphonedyou said:
There's absolutely no chance they'll be on the hook for consequential loss. Which makes sense when you think about the possible implications - all 53 of you could have missed your flight to join that once-in-a-lifetime round-the-world cruise, after all. No insurance company is underwriting that risk.
It doesn't matter if an insurance company is underwriting it or not - the coach company will surely be liable for out of pocket expenses if they cancel last minute and don't provide an alternative. You can't just cancel last minute and leave people in the lurch - personally I'd be writing to ask for the cost of the tickets back, and then going to Small Claims with it if no joy.
At the end of the day they agreed to provide a service, and I don't believe they'll just be able to back out at the 11th hour.
Leicester Loyal said:
Yeah, I know Jim personally and he's said nothing they can do.
The coach company have now said they were unaware of the booking until 27th December and won't be paying for any match day tickets, essentially suck up the 1.6k loss. They said they shouldn't have taken the booking.
Whcih is all fair enough, but they haven't sent the refund, so we can't book anything else to travel on tomorrow.
Them 'not knowing' isn't your problem though - an employee took the booking, and what they did with it after that isn't your issue. The coach company have now said they were unaware of the booking until 27th December and won't be paying for any match day tickets, essentially suck up the 1.6k loss. They said they shouldn't have taken the booking.
Whcih is all fair enough, but they haven't sent the refund, so we can't book anything else to travel on tomorrow.
They took the booking, they should honour it or provide compensation for the loss.
Personally I'd be off down there myself if it was local to have a chat in person - this tends to get better results than an angry email.
Golfgtimk28v said:
Why not get the train?
No trains back, last train back is just as the first half finishes.DaveE87 said:
Have they run out of coaches to use? If they have one available surely it would be easy enough to get an agency driver in for one shift.
They said it's because they have an agreement with Leicester City FC not to take any other football fans than the ones booked through LCFC themselves, hence why we thought the club might help us out. Again, fair enough is that's the case, but it's mental that we can be 1.5k or so out of pocket because of their employee mistake.
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