Booking

Rock UK Trailblazers is a well established and reputable adventure provider with a proven track record providing worldwide adventures to the general public as well as assisting charity partners in raising significant funds for worthwhile causes. All our adventures are either provided using Rock UK Adventure Centres teams and resources or accredited high quality and reputable partners with whom we have established working relationships. At the end of your adventure we will ask you to complete a feedback questionnaire to help us ensure our adventure partners maintain the high standards we expect for all customers.

To assure you experience the best adventure possible all our partners must strive to meet the following stringent criteria:

• ATOL or TTA bonded, where appropriate
• Excellent reputation
• High quality health and safety considerations
• Experience – some partners established as far back as 1975
• Exceptional Safety Record
• Private vehicles for overseas transfers wherever possible
• Experienced local guides
• Itineraries designed to allow sufficient time to acclimatise where relevant
• Quality focused approach to all aspects of the trip
• Undertake on-going risk assessments and emergency evacuation plans
• Have industry leading policies and practices for Responsible Tourism
• Experienced and passionate staff with extensive product knowledge

Where trips are resourced by Rock UK Adventure Centres Limited the booking conditions below apply. For adventures provided by our accredited partners booking conditions are available upon request.

ROCK UK ADVENTURE CENTRES EXPEDITIONS BOOKING CONDITIONS

ROCK UK ADVENTURE CENTRES LIMITED: Is a Christian charity encouraging positive development of primarily young people. All individuals are welcome regardless of gender, marital status, race, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or physical and mental ability.

Please read carefully the terms in these conditions of contract. In completing and submitting the booking form, you agree to be bound by these conditions which constitute the agreement between Rock UK Adventure Centres Limited (“RUK”) and you. These conditions apply to the exclusion of any other terms or conditions unless they are set out in the booking form or are otherwise agreed to in writing by the parties. Previous dealings between the parties will not vary these conditions. No purported variation of these conditions will be effective unless in writing and signed by a person so authorized by RUK.

BOOKINGS:
a)You must be over 18 years old to make a booking.
b)Where you are booking on behalf of others you assume the role of group leader and accept the booking conditions on behalf of everyone in the group. Other persons named on the booking form, must consent to the main person making decisions on their behalf.
c)Booking is affected when RUK accepts from you a completed booking form and payment of a non returnable deposit.
d)The balance of the FULL PAYMENT IS DUE 12 WEEKS BEFORE START OF YOUR EXPEDITION. If the balance is not paid by the specified date, your booking may be cancelled without notice and be subject to cancellation charges.
e)If a booking is made after the final invoice due date, the booking is effected when RUK receives a completed booking form and full payment.
f)If an airline requires advance payment of a deposit and/or the full airfare plus taxes RUK will notify you and require immediate payment.

AMENDMENTS/TRANSFERS: You may change your original arrangements or transfer to another expedition (which departs within 12 months of the original departure date), provided you notify RUK in writing. Any change will incur a £50 administration fee. In any such case the following charges will apply:
a)between time of booking and 8 weeks prior to departure – £50 plus any applicable airfare charges;
b)between 8 weeks prior to the date of original departure and day of original departure – charges in accordance with the cancellation fees.

CANCELLATIONS: Any CANCELLATION MUST BE MADE IN WRITING to RUK, effective from the date received. Cancellation of a booking or reduction in numbers for any expedition will be subject to the following charges and loss of insurance premium:
a)Cancellation of a booking or reduction in numbers made 20 weeks before expedition will result in loss of deposit.
b)Cancellation of a booking or reduction in numbers made 12 weeks before expedition will be charged at 60% of the full fee.
c)Cancellation of a booking or reduction in numbers made 8 weeks before expedition will be charged at 80% of the full fee.
d)Cancellation of a booking or reduction in numbers made 6 weeks before expedition will be charged at 100% of the full fee.
No partial refunds or credit will be given for services not used. Any amount forfeited, which has not then been paid to RUK may be recovered from you by RUK as a debt due and payable. We strongly recommend that travel insurance be instigated at the time of booking.

CANCELLATION DUE TO BOOKING NUMBERS: RUK reserves the right to cancel any expedition prior to departure in the event that there are too few people booked on an expedition in which case you will be given a full refund of the expedition price paid by you. You will not be entitled to claim any additional amounts or seek any compensation for any injury, loss, expenses or damage (either direct or consequential) or for any loss of time or inconvenience which may result from such cancellation (including but not limited to visa, passport and vaccination charges, or departure, gear purchases, airport and airline taxes).
The operational status of your expedition will be advised 60 days prior to the start date of your expedition for overseas events and 30 days for UK events. We advise against paying for your flights until your trip has been confirmed to operate.

HEALTH & FITNESS REQUIREMENTS: You need to be in good health and fit to undertake RUK expeditions and not travelling against medical advice. RUK reserve the right to refuse any participant the right to commence or require the participant to cease participation in the expedition should we believe it necessary on medical grounds. The participant agrees to provide RUK all relevant medical information relating to their health.
Upon receipt of your completed booking form, RUK will send you a medical questionnaire for completion, to be returned with full payment. This must be completed by your doctor if:
a)you are aged 70 or over
b)you have any pre-existing medical condition. If it is required that your doctor complete the medical questionnaire and you fail your medical, a full refund of the amount paid will be given providing that RUK has received your completed medical questionnaire within 14 days after booking. RUK reserves the right to recover any reasonable losses incurred as a result of failure of the participant to do so.

MEDICAL DISCLOSURE: If you fail to comply with the duty of medical disclosure and if RUK would not have permitted you to undertake the expedition, or continue participation, had you made full disclosure, RUK will not be liable for personal injury, death or property damage or loss incurred by you. Nothing in this clause excludes or limits our liability for fraud, death or personal injury which arises as a result of our negligence.

EXPEDITION LEADERS: An expedition leader is a nominated person given at any time the task of leading or supervising any aspect of the expedition.
RUK takes expedition leaders responsibilities seriously and if for any reason an expedition leader believes, in his or her absolute discretion, that you should not participate in the expedition due to you committing an illegal act, or in the opinion of the expedition leader, your behaviour is causing or is likely to cause danger, distress or annoyance to others, or your fitness or health is inadequate, he or she may direct you not to continue and you must follow the expedition leader’s instructions. In this case you will not be entitled to any refund. Travel insurance may compensate you depending on the circumstances.

ROUTE CHANGES, POSTPONEMENT, CANCELLATION, DELAY:
RUK reserves the right to:
a)change the date of departure or conclusion of the expedition, or
b)modify any aspect of the expedition, or
c)cancel or modify any routes within the expedition as set out in the itinerary, or
d)substitute different or equivalent routes in place of cancelled or modified routes, or postpone, cancel or delay (either in relation to the departure or arrival times or the duration of the expedition) any such aspect of the expedition if, in the absolute discretion of RUK, it is necessary to do so due to inclement weather, snow or icy conditions or those that are otherwise likely to be hazardous or dangerous or due to any other adverse or threatening conditions whether political or military or terrorist or otherwise or in the case of any real or perceived health risk (including SARS or bird flu), or if, in the absolute discretion of RUK, there is a likelihood of any such event occurring which may impact upon the safety of the participants, or if an act or omission of a third party prevents the expedition or any aspect of the expedition being undertaken in accordance with your booking or for any other reason considered necessary by RUK. In the event of any change, modification, cancellation postponement or delay under this condition, you acknowledge that you will have no right of refund of the expedition price (whether in whole or in part) and no right to claim compensation for any injury, loss or damage or other additional expenses incurred by virtue of the change, modification, cancellation postponement or delay.
If any such change, whether before or during the expedition, necessitates additional costs (including accommodation, flights or ground transportation) to be charged, you agree that you will pay additional costs as reasonably required by RUK.
RUK also reserves, in its absolute discretion, the right to cancel any expedition due to any government travel warning or advice, or any change in such warning or advice. In this event, cancellation fees apply as if you had transferred or cancelled the expedition at the date that RUK cancelled the expedition due to the governmental travel warning or advice. Travel insurance may compensate you depending on the circumstances.

ITINERARIES: Itineraries and other details, including minimum operating numbers, are published in good faith as statements of intention only and reasonable changes in the itinerary and related items may be made if deemed necessary or advisable by RUK.

INSURANCE: It is a condition of booking with RUK that before you travel you must either:
a)take out a policy under the travel insurance scheme offered by RUK; or
b)take out a policy of travel insurance which is acceptable to RUK.
To be acceptable to RUK, a policy of travel insurance must:
i)be valid for the entire duration of the expedition; and
ii)cover you for illness, injury, death, loss of baggage and personal items, cancellation, curtailment, emergency rescue and repatriation. You agree that it is your responsibility to check the adequacy and validity of any insurance policy effected by or on your behalf and you must provide evidence to RUK that you have obtained personal travel insurance. Personal travel insurance is not included in the expedition price.

PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP OR INFORMATION REQUIRED FOR TRAVEL: It is your responsibility to obtain proper identification or proof of citizenship as required by the authorities of the destination to which you are travelling. You will not be entitled to a refund if you are denied boarding or entry on any basis, including without limitation, improper documentation or failure to provide information.

AIRLINES AND OTHER TRANSPORT PROVIDERS: In the event that an airline’s proposed travel or fare schedule is amended or cancelled, such amendment or cancellation will not be considered a cancellation of the expedition by RUK.
Any flights or other transport forming part of the expedition arrangements are subject to the conditions of the carrying airline or other transport entity, which in most cases limits their liability to passengers in accordance with applicable international law and conventions. The liability of RUK, any airline or other transport provider is limited so far as possible by the applicable international law.

EXPEDITION PRICE: Prices are based on ground costs, airfares, exchange rates and assumptions are made in advance of the expedition. RUK tries its utmost not to increase prices, however sometimes increases are outside its control.
RUK reserves the right to modify prices (or any part) without notice at any time before and including the departure date.
Modifications may be necessitated for many reasons including, but not limited to, exchange rate fluctuations, increased fuel costs, airfares, airport charges, increases in ground operator service fees, or the need to engage alternative air or ground operators. Any increase in expedition prices must be paid prior to departure date.

EXCLUSIONS FROM EXPEDITION PRICE, VISA & VACCINATIONS: It is entirely your responsibility to obtain the relevant medical advice and vaccinations and make all other necessary preliminary arrangements including compliance with visa requirements, and we accept no responsibility whatsoever in the event that these matters are not dealt with prior to departure.
Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months after the date of your return. Without limitation, the following items are excluded from the expedition price:
a)visa, passport and vaccination charges;
b)personal travel insurance;
c)departure, airport and airline taxes (in some countries other than the UK);
d)extra meals, transport costs, accommodation costs, or other expenses not included in the itinerary;
e)laundry, postage, personal clothing, medical expenses & personal items;
f)emergency evacuation and/or emergency search charges;
g)additional expenses caused by delay, accidents or disruption of planned itineraries; and tips, onboard beverages and excess baggage charges.

FORCE MAJEURE: RUK is prevented (directly or indirectly) from performing any of its obligations under this agreement by reason of act of God, strikes, trade disputes, fire, breakdowns, interruption of transport, government or political action, acts of war or terrorism, acts or omissions of a third party or for any other cause whatsoever outside RUK’s reasonable control.
RUK will be under no liability whatsoever to you and may, at its option, by written notice to you either cancel the expedition or take any other action.

ASSUMPTION OF RISK: You acknowledge that:
a)by the very nature of adventure travel and trekking holidays, they are more challenging and demanding with a commensurately higher level of risk compared with conventional holidays; and
b)the additional dangers and risks associated with adventure travel may include difficult and dangerous terrain; high altitude; extremes of weather, including sudden and unexpected changes; political instability; remoteness from normal medical services and from communications; and evacuation difficulties in the event of illness or injury; and
c)the enjoyment and excitement of adventure travel is derived in part from the inherent dangers and risks associated with adventure travel and that those inherent dangers and risks are a reason why you wish to undertake the expedition;
d)the very nature of the adventure travel undertaken by you may require considerable flexibility on your part, necessitating alternative arrangements to be made to the itinerary at short notice; and
e)you have submitted your booking form for the expedition after giving due consideration to relevant travel information including, without limitation, any information or advice issued by the British Foreign Office, and that it is your responsibility to acquaint yourself with that information or advice.
For the above reasons you therefore accept the inherent and increased dangers and risks associated with the proposed expedition and the accompanying risk of injury, death or property damage or loss.

DISCLAIMER: You accept that:
a)RUK in some instances acts as a booking agent for third-party expedition operators and accepts no liability for the acts or omissions of those third-party expedition operators; and
b)RUK will not be liable for any breach of any law by any person with whom you travel on the expedition; and
c)you may not rely on any representations concerning the expedition made by RUK which are not contained in these conditions.

RELEASE AND WAIVER OF LIABILITY: In consideration of RUK accepting your booking and in consideration of you being permitted by RUK to join the expedition:
a)you release RUK and its officers, employees, agents, licensees, guides and other representatives and the land management authorities in the countries in which the expedition is conducted (each of whom are collectively referred to as “RUK and its employees” from all financial or economic cost, liability, loss or damage or damage to or loss of your property incurred or suffered by you directly or indirectly during the course of the expedition. RUK shall not be liable for personal injury, illness or death unless caused by the negligence or wrongful act of RUK and its employees; and
b)you waive any claims you have, or may at any time have, against RUK and its employees and you agree, by accepting the additional inherent dangers and risks associated with the expedition, not to make any claim against or seek any compensation from RUK and its employees in respect of any personal injury, illness or death suffered by you (unless such death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of RUK or damage to or loss of property sustained by you as a result of your participation in the expedition.
i)If, despite the release and waiver given under this condition, RUK is found to be liable for damages to you, you agree that the maximum amount of such damages will be limited to the price paid for the expedition. Any damages or compensation are further limited by the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague protocol 1955 (air), the Athens Convention 1974 (sea), the Berne Convention 1961 (rail), and the Paris Convention 1962 (hotel accommodation). In the event that RUK makes any payment to you in respect of any damages claim brought by or on your behalf, you must assign to us or our insurers, as we require, all your rights to pursue any third party and you must provide all reasonable cooperation to us and our insurers in relation to the pursuit of any claim.
ii)You accept that the release and waiver is reasonable given the nature of the expedition and given the wide availability of travel insurance and you agree to check the terms of your travel insurance policy to ensure that it provides adequate cover. Nothing in these terms and conditions shall exclude or limit RUK’s liability for fraud, dishonesty or willful concealment.

MISCELLANEOUS: A party will not be deemed to have waived any of its rights or remedies under these conditions or at law by allowing any time or indulgence or by not exercising any right or remedy arising out of any default by the other party.
If any part of a condition is illegal, unenforceable or invalid, it is to be treated as removed from the conditions, however, the remainder of the conditions are not altered.

LAND ONLY CLIENTS: In respect of land-only clients (meaning those people not starting with the group from the UK), our responsibility does not commence until you have met our representative at the appointed time at the designated meeting point. If you fail to arrive there at the appointed time, we shall not be responsible for any additional expenses incurred by you in order to meet up with the group.

INFORMATION: Any information or advice provided by RUK on matters such as permits, government travel advice or warnings, visas, vaccinations, climate, clothing, baggage, special equipment, is given in good faith but without any responsibility whatsoever on the part of RUK. You accept responsibility for obtaining all necessary travel information and documentation required for the expedition.

ARBITRATION: Any complaint arising out of your expedition must be brought to the attention of RUK. Your complaint should be made in writing within 24 hours of the cause of the complaint and signed by the RUK representative confirming that it was brought to his or her attention. If your complaint is not satisfactorily resolved and you wish to pursue the matter on return from your expedition, you must submit your written complaint to us within 14 days of your return. RUK will not be liable in relation to any complaint or problem if you fail to notify the RUK representative during the expedition or RUK upon your return, strictly in accordance with this condition. If a resolution of your complaint cannot be achieved, you may refer the dispute to arbitration under a special scheme which provides for a simple and inexpensive method of dispute resolution administered by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. This scheme is not applicable to claims for amounts greater than £1,500 per person or £7,500 per booking form, nor to claims involving personal injury or illness. The rules of the scheme provide that the application for arbitration must be brought within 9 months after the date of the return of your expedition but in special circumstances may be brought outside this period.

AUTHORITY ON THE EXPEDITION: By signing the booking form you agree to accept the authority and decisions of RUK employees, expedition leaders, agents and suppliers during the expedition. If, in the opinion of any RUK representative, your health or conduct appears likely to endanger the progress of the expedition or other participants you may be excluded from the whole of, or part, of the expedition. In the case of ill-health, RUK reserves the right to make such arrangements for your well-being as deemed necessary and to recover the whole of the costs thereof from you. If you commit an illegal act RUK ceases to have responsibility to or for you.

THE CONTRACT: This contract (including all matters arising from it) is subject to English law and the exclusive jurisdiction of English courts.

Mark Heasman, Chief Executive, Rock UK Adventure Centres Ltd
Frontier Centre, Addington Road, Irthlingborough, Northants NN9 5UH
Tel 01933 654100 Email; head.office@rockuk.org
Reg. Charity No 1107724 (England & Wales) SC040118 (Scotland) Reg. in England No .4718891 VAT Reg NO 869 6053 80