To be annoyed that school trip is cancelled and likely no refund

[CancelledLondonTrip]

First off my thoughts are with the victims and their families in Manchester. It was a terrible unpredictable attack on innocent children.

In light of this attack, our school is cancelling their year 6 trip to London.

I would rather the trip goes ahead, as the actual risk to our children in London from an terrorist attack is tiny. Especially with the heightened security.

The school have also said as everything has already been paid for it is unlikely we will get a refund on the £150 (three day trip) cost, as it has already been spent on train tickets, hostels, museum tickets and a show. All non refundable.

Aibu to expect the school to either run the trip OR refund 100% of the trip money OR even give the parents who still want to go the tickets and let us use the teachers tickets and we could take our children down ourselves ?

For the school to cancel the trip and for all the parents to lose all the money doesn't seem to be a fair solution.

YANBU and I'm by this! You say you're not likely to be refunded but presumably the school haven't 100% confirmed that?

Basic position - parents who chose to withdraw their kids - no refund.

Parents who had no choice in the matter - refund or be taken to small claims court. The school would probably argue frustration of contract due to terrorism being critical or some similar daft argument but there's no way that applies here.

I know that schools are already underfunded and it's awful it has to come out of their pocket, but there's no way parents should lose out here.

YANBU - that's awful.

My son went on his YR 6 trip to London on Tuesday morning. Obviously everyone was on edge but they still went ahead. It maybe something to do with the terror threat being raised to critical whilst they were in London so obviously whilst on the trip. If they had gone next week we would probably be in your position. The travel companies will probably advise the school not to go - maybe due to insurance - who knows.

But if the travel/insurance company advise not to go then the school will be entitled to a payout from said company surely?

And if the school chose not to take out appropriate insurance, that doesn't stop them from being obliged to offer a refund if they fail to provide the service.

Just like if I fail to take out public liability insurance for my business and my business damages someone else's property I and my business are then liable. I'm not magically free of responsibility because I chose not to insure.

£150 for 3 days in london is bloody cheap.

It is if you actually go. £150 to get your kid's hopes up is a bit much.

So what's the position with the school's insurers?

As a teacher of a school that have cancelled a trip to London recently.
One the decision was not taken lightly, a meeting with Local authority and governors took place before a final decision was made. Also staff who were meant to go had to be consulted...some of which didn't feel comfortable any longer and others had had their family ask them not to go. Trips run on the goodwill of teachers and school staff.

Adult to pupil ratio on residential trips is 1:8. If something was to happen, how does a teacher pick which child to save, shield or help first. You are asking a lot of someone....and alot of teachers are very young themselves. How does a teacher make that decision and live with the outcome???

As it comes to refunds, most London trips actually cost the school more per child than the parents. £150 would barely cover the accommodation, now think about coaches, entry to museums, tourist attractions, West end shows.....

This would not have been a decision taken lightly at all and I understand you are annoyed because you were not consulted but how would that realistically have turned out. Parents getting angry? Arguing with staff? Who would get a word in edge ways?

We had parents thanking us for making the decision because they didn't have to tell their child they couldn't go.

Would you take responsibility for 7 other people's kids in the current situation?
Could you live with it if something happened? Could you choose?

Schools have to full in risk assessments but when you have to have evacuation plans for each venue for every part of the day, something isn't right.

Also remember that on top of everything else you will have children who have medical needs the teachers are thinking about.

School trips are risks which teachers willing take on usually, add in a critical security level and I can't see how you can make them feel bad for putting the safety of your kids ahead of a visit (plus residential trips = overnight stay....staff aren't paid more for the extra hours or extra responsibility but you say they should take the risk).

I really feel for you and the children, but I guess I can understand. I would take my own family on a trip to London no problem, but after reading a lot of panicky threads on here it's clear that a lot of people are scared. What if the teachers/helpers going on the trip are scared and panicky? Would you want your children with someone worrying and scared. It's a difficult one.

The school owe you a better reason though, and it would be nice if they tried to do something to make it up to the kids - a camp in the school field and a local trip perhaps?

My husband has taken his class on a trip to London today for three days. Advice from authorities was to go. Guess the advice OPs school received may have been different

Cancelling is fair enough if circumstances change. No refund is another matter entirely and in any other situation a parent would at least be able to recoup costs when a trip is cancelled by the schools. I do think that's schools and LEAs ought to have some form of Insurance to cover such costs. Parents should have to be £150 out of pocket, that's an awful lot of money for many people to lose.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the issue is with cancelling the trip particularly, but the fact the parents don't get a refund when the trip has been cancelled outside their control.

I know school budgets and funds are tight but why should parents have to pick up the cost based on the school's decision/choice to cancel the trip?

Our school provided an alternate trip, the school are paying for the new trip.

No news on any refund.

But received a letter today asking for another £30 for two alternative events !

I also saw photos from my friends child London school trip, just back today. Apparantly they had a wonderful time and saw numerous other school trips there too.

Shame my child will never get that experience.

Not sending more money for additional events, I have spent enough. :(

Tell them they can take the £30 out of the money you have already paid.

See what they say.

I will be asking about the refund but not holding my breath.

I do appreciate this hasn't been easy for the school but I still feel they should either run the trip for those who want to go or give us our money back.

Were the school not insured for the trip?

Tell them they can take the £30 out of the money you have already paid

This. I guess you're at the end of your time there now but otherwise I'd have said "take it out of the £150" every time they asked for "voluntary" contributions until you had your money back.

You can't cancel a trip on a whim. And it is a whim. Millions of people live in London and are fine. Yes it's devastating for those caught up in these sorts of attacks. But the risk is very very low. Far more people die and are injured in RTAs.

The school would probably argue frustration of contract due to terrorism being critical or some similar daft argument

even if they do - that doesn't mean they don't have to offer a refund, it just means you can't sue them for failure to provide the service.

Were the school not insured for the trip? - Insurance won't cover the school changing their mind about going on the trip. There was no official advice from the authorities to cancel trips or to not go into London.

Teaching tj90 what if the coach crashed? How would teachers know which child to help first?
Could teachers live with themselves if while they were away the coach crashed?

Can well believe your friend's child saw lots of other school groups, cancelled. I was at the Globe on Friday and it was annoyingly overrun by school groups. In order to actually get to the Globe we had to detour as it's right next to Borough market which was still shut.

So if the school took the children on the trip and there was an attack, how do you think people would be feeling??? especially if they lost a child?

Our school are taking the kids to the Trafford centre and to be quite frank i am not happy with it.

Mucky there is always a risk. The risk is slightly higher but you could always say that about any trip.

My DDs Year 6 trip is definitely going ahead, there there were some mums on FB going all drama lama about it. The school sought advice from the LA and agreed to go ahead.

The school here should have asked parents if they still wanted to go ahead, or offered them the Transport and tickets if they wanted to go independently as a family. To summarily cancel it is not acceptable.

Sorry Op, just to say as well you should have a refund that is wrong xx

StealthPolarBear, I know what your saying but all the same if Manchester and London and other areas arestillon critical then why take the risk? and I know it can happen anytime anywhere, but with having both happen relativley close together, I would not be happy till my son got back xx

Tell them they can take the £30 out of the money you have already paid

Yes, and for everything else they ask for in the future too. Keep a tally until the £150 has been used up and only then start paying again.

The school has handled this very badly indeed. They should have given you a choice. If you didn't want your child to go, then you're decision, no refund. If you did want your child to go, then the school should have tried to make it happen - fewer children maybe, so fewer teachers needed.

It's not right that you're out of pocket for something in which you have no decision making right.