Can we be sued for backing out of a verbal agreement?

[QueenEagle]

As a family, we were due to go abroad to an International swimming competition. Myself, dd, ds1 were competing and dh and ds2 were supporters. We were told ds2 may be able to "sneak in" as a competitor even though he was under the entry age of 10 (he will be 10 in March).

Anyway, we verbally agreed that we would like to go and we made arrangemnets for ds3 and ds4 to stay with rellies in Leicestershire as we were told it was likely the flights weould be from East Midlands, just down the road.

About 6 weeks prior to the competition we were sent a very generalised letter stating that the flights would be from Stansted. It included details of the accommodation, confirmed the price for competitors and confirmed the flight times. It did not include names of who had been entered for which events, so we were left wondering whether ds2 had been sneaked in after all. We had requested details of what vegetarian food would be available, we were told there was likely to be something, which didn't convince us much as this was Germany we were going to.

Anyway, just over 3 weeks prior to the event, we felt the trip to babysitters and then to Stansted (a trip of almost 200 miles) would be too much before getting the flight at 8pm in the evening. Together with my knee injury rendering me unfit anyway, even though I was prepared to go and give it a shot, we felt we had no choice but to pull out.

We have since received a bill for cancellation of £300. Since we never signed anything and never received written confirmation of who who was competing, we feel a bit hard done by. Can't the organisation claim the loss off their insurance?? Can't afford to pay out this amount of money just before xmas but notwithstanding that, are they able to sue us for this money?

Sorry it's long and rambling, but I would appreciate some advice before I respond to their demand for payment.

A contract does not have to be in writing for it to be binding (unless it relates to the sale of land). So what you need to work out was whether you entered into a binding contract or merely agreed to do something subject to certain conditions - such as confirmation of suitable vegetarian food, confirmation of who was being entered as a competitor, etc. If you can prove that you were still awaiting information to enable you to make a firm and binding commitment to the trip, then you may be able to argue that you had not entered into a binding contract.

Would the organisation have the means to sue you? Do you still want to be involved with them afterwards? Were you advised at the outset that, if you agreed to go and pulled out, you would have to pay cancellation fees? If not, then I think they would have difficulty in imposing them retrospectively.

I'm no legal expert, but generally I think that under English Law a verbal contract is a valid one.

If you told the club you were going and on the basis of that they booked flights and accomodation then I think there is probably some evidence there that they acted on the verbal contract.

I think much of it will depend on what was in the 'generalised letter'. Also teh time delay between receiving that and telling them you are not going isn't helpful!

Having said that, you didn;t sign anything and I would expect that in organising a trip like this it would be reasonable to get some kind of confirmation slip to sign.

Ah, crossed posts with Freckle, who does know what she is talking about

who is actually charging you? can you find anything on any paperwork they may have sent you with a disclaimer on or warning about cancellations etc?

It's a national organisation so i guess they would have the means to sue us if they chose to. Although it was confirmed what the price for supporters would be, it stated in the letter that confirmation would be sent shortly re the cost for competitors. At no point was it stated that they would try to claim for cancellation.

We still would like to be members and attend future events with this organisation, so it would be awkward from that point of view if this got messy. I too would have thought that we would be required to sign something official - don't they need full names etc and proof of passports to book flights?

We assumed some official paperwork would be sent to us and it was never confirmed, verbal or written whether ds2 could be "sneaked in" as a competitor, as they put it.

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I think that, if you still want to continue your relationship with the organisation, negotiation is probably your best bet. Plead ignorance of the normal process, e.g. you didn't realise that indicating an interest in going would be taken as officially booking a place, that they hadn't confirmed what sort of booking it was (as in how many competitors and how many supporters) and that they had not provided any paperwork indicating what would happen if you either decided not to go or were prevented by, say, illness, etc. If it's a national organisation which deals with these events on a regular basis, I'm extremely surprised that they don't have a more professional approach, such as getting signed confirmation slips, deposits, etc.

Had you paid a deposit ? We've signed up for school ski trips to which I believe we are committed after a certain date unless replacements can be found even though we have no written confirmation of our participation yet.

In your case I suspect the flights would have been booked by the time you cancelled in which case you may be liable for amendment or cancellation, even on just your verbal say so, but surely the organisation should be able to provide written proof of their financial loss to justify it. Do you have travel insurance as perhaps you may be able to claim your knee prevented you travelling.