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.

Has anyone suggested making a small claim against the school ?

I'm no lawyer but it sounds like you had a contract with the school, and they didn't perform ?

Maybe carry this thread into the Legal Matters forum ?

I am a teacher who runs trips so I know what the constraints are for schools. Nevertheless they can't just take your money and give you nothing in return. It might be different if official advice from the government was to stay away from London but it would then be covered by insurance. If you had paid your £150 to Thomas Cook and they were randomly cancelling the trip you would expect the money back and would sue for it if they didn't give it to you. It's irrelevant that £150 isn't much for three nights in London, it is a lot of money for op and no doubt many parents at the school. If the school chose to subsidise the trip that's great but they are still responsible for refunding the money they have received from parents (or using it to fund an alternative trip of the same value).

Dd goes to school in Central London she has been going on the tube on her own since she was 10.

Thousands of children are in Central London daily. What is everyone supposed to do. stay indoors and not go out because it is too risky.

Everywhere there is a risk.

Manchester is miles from London is everyone stopping going into Manchester.

Our school has cancelled trip to London Dungeons which was due to happen today for same reasons. It would I e been a day trip. I'm annoyed and ds disappointed but apparently a few kids said they didn't want to go so that's that. I don't think we'll be charged though. In your case I would not be prepared to swallow the costs! Surely the school should or surely they should have some kind of insurance?

What absolute hysterical nonsense!

Do they run a school ski trip?

How many more children are killed and injured every year skiing vs by terrorism?

More people die on the roads every year (2000 aprox) than terrorism related deaths. Do we all stop driving ?

I am more upset that one of the new events is a sleepover at the school and they want an additional £10 just for that one !

I understand they are trying to offer an alternative and we are relying on the good will of teachers but after taking up to £150 off 30 parens, you really want to ask for another tenner so they can sleep on the classroom floor !

10/10 for effort...minus a million for sensible alternative.

Thing is nowhere is safe. No other reasonable replacement trip would be any safer.

I am upset that the school are overreacting to the terrorist risk.

Also entry to museums are free

Outrageous. Surely they have to refund you, since you've been given no say in the matter. I'd call that theft.

29palms from what funds are they going to refund the parents? The money has already been spent on accommodation, transport and show tickets. Much, if not all of that, is non-refundable. I'm not saying it's right (although it's not theft!) but if school refunds the parents the money will have to come from the school budget - at the expense of games equipment next year, or reading scheme books or something equally vital. School budgets have been cut to the core.

But they made the decision to cancel without any consultation or, it seems, any real justification. If the costs had been recoverable through insurance it would be a different matter.

The money has already been spent on accommodation, transport and show tickets. Much, if not all of that, is non-refundable. I'm not saying it's right (although it's not theft!) but if school refunds the parents the money will have to come from the school budget - at the expense of games equipment next year, or reading scheme books or something equally vital. School budgets have been cut to the core.

If you paid a builder, who didn't do the job, and tried to brush it off saying "Well, I spent the money for materials with a shop that went bust", a court would still find him liable.

From what I've read the school is liable - irrespective of where the money went. And it's a little off that parents should be guilt tripped into waving goodbye to a large sum of money because of the schools own incompetence of not insuring in the first place. And if they weren't insured, it's dreadful to think what might have arisen if the trip had gone ahead. Not for any terror-related reasons, but just because it sounds like the party would have been uninsured anyway.

Personally, I'd be starting a small claims court (fast track, nowadays, I believe) for my money, and see what a court says.

Legally the school owes everyone a full refund, that is simple contract law. But honestly I want them to run the trip not to refund the money.

I expected to spend the money for this trip, so I couldn't sue them for the money and cause the school to lose more money which they need for the other pupils.

I am upset that I have paid the money and got NOTHING for it and they couldn't even organise a free event at the school to make up for it...They want more money for the replacement trips :(

Ps. I am certain they are insured but as the school decided to cancel the trip for no reason, then the insurance will not pay out because the school change their minds about running a trip.

Could you not get together with other parents and take legal advice? Or individually take them to the small claims court?

This is awful. Their decision not to go so they should refund you. I know you said that you want the trip to go ahead but if they refunded you could you not just use that money to take your children for a day in London by train during the holidays? No one's missing out then.

I honestly couldn't let the school get away with keeping my money, it's not as though it's just a small amount either.

So the new trips are actually to sort of make up for the fact they don't get their planned trip? As a replacement? And they're still charging for it :(

I hope this can be sorted, yes £150 is a bargain for what it was, but that doesn't change the fact it's a lot of money to many families

When was this trip supposed to take place? Why did they not give the theatre tickets or other tickets to the parents if they wished to take their children separately? Train tix and accommodation may have been impossible to redistribute as they were presumably block booked and not usable unless in a group. Of course, to be fair, this trip was cancelled after the Manchester bombing and, in light of the subsequent terror attack in London, school will probably say they were completely justified in cancelling.

It was meant to be running in a few weeks time (being vague on purpose)

I would of liked tickets but assumed we would not be able to use the school bookings.

A few weeks? Surely they will get some of it refunded.

This stinks even worse now.

I think you need to find a group of like minded parents and ask for a meeting with the HT and chair of governors and demand a refund otherwise you will be taking legal advice . This is utter nonsense .

So the trip was cancelled a month in advance?

Madness.

If they can't get a refund they need to reinstate the trip.

Why can't the school get a refund, my Dd and myself were due to see Ariana grande at the o2 after the incident at her Manchester concert, everything was paid for concert tickets, hotel and train tickets.

We got the concert tickets refunded really quickly, and the hotel were really good and refunded the full amount as well, we used the train tickets by going to London to do some shopping instead as my Dd was upset by what had happened.

Such hysteria plays right into the terrorists' hands. What an appalling message to be sending to the children. You need a full refund pronto or they reinstate the trip. End of. It's London we're talking about, not Syria or Iraq.

So the trip was cancelled nearly 2 months in advance?! They are being VVVU to make a snap decision based on an attack in an entirely different city so early on! Especially as they're deciding to forfeit your money without giving you any say in the matter, and then trying to charge you more for the replacement activities.

We live in the Lake District and DD's school were taking their Y6 to Manchester (not DDs year group but I have friends with kids in Y6) for their 3 day trip last week. A few days after the attack the school arranged a meeting for all parents and basically said:

"We have two options - to go as planned or cancel. If we go then we'll be putting X extra safety procedures in place and making Y alterations to the planned itinerary as extra protection. If we cancel then you're potentially forfeiting your money because we can't claim back off the insurance and while we'll try to get some money refunded by the venues/activities there's no guarantee if/how much we will be able to get. So, we'll put it to a vote and we'll go with what the majority want. If we do agree to go on the trip, any parent who wants to withdraw their child can do so but there will be no refunds."

The parents pretty much unanimously agreed for the trip to go ahead, a couple of parents wanted to accompany the trip (at their own expense) and by all accounts they had a great time on their trip, but the difference is that the school discussed it with the parents and everyone made the decision together with the full facts.