School Group Train Tickets

10+ Group bookings - Terms & Conditions

Ticket types:

Advanced Group: Ticket discounts are based on at least 10 people travelling together, and are single (one-way) tickets.

School Group: Available to Teachers and pupils from registered schools in the United Kingdom. There must be at least 20 people in the group, with a maximum of 50 including adults, per train service. There cannot be more than 10 adults and children must be under 18 at the time of travel, students aged 18 or over will be classed as an adult. The School Group Fare is based on a return ticket. Children (under 18 on most group discounted tickets) travel at around half the price of the adult fare, those under 5 travels free with no seat reservations.

Advanced Non-Group: Ticket for fixed trains for less than 10 people which are non-refundable. Child ages are 5-15 inclusive.

Flexible Non-Group: Example of tickets are Anytime tickets and Off-Peak tickets. Can have seat reservation; but is not compulsory. Available as singles or returns. Child ages are 5-15 inclusive.

Luggage: We have three spaces to store luggage; above seats in the small overhead luggage racks, beneath seats and in the dedicated luggage areas by the doorways. Please be considerate and remember that luggage cannot be placed on seats intended for fellow passengers. Although there’s no weight restriction, luggage must be managed without additional assistance. We can carry anything (within reason) that fits on our train, however, if it exceeds the free allowance we may need to charge extra for it on-board the train.

You can bring:

• One item of hand luggage that can fit on a lap
• One larger item of luggage, not exceeding 30 x 70 x 90 cm in size

Please note: If the above limits are exceeded and the luggage cannot be carried on our train due to space limitations then a courier may be arranged by Avanti West Coast at the clients’ expense.

Available on Avanti West Coast services only.

Connecting services on other Train Operating Companies to be confirmed at 24 weeks prior to travel, or as made available by the other Train Operating Company. Avanti West Coast takes no responsibility over the scheduling of other Train Operating Companies and their connection with Avanti West Coast services.

Travel can be confirmed 52-24 weeks prior to departure on Weekday services (Monday to Friday), excluding Bank Holidays, for groups of 10 or more passengers travelling together on the same service. Weekend and Bank Holiday Travel can be confirmed 12 weeks prior to departure, or as soon as Network Rail Maintenance schedules allow confirmed services.

Train times quoted at 52 weeks prior to departure are subject to change, and will be confirmed 24-12 weeks prior to travel. Avanti West Coast takes no responsibility for scheduling changes.

Seat reservations can only be confirmed 24-12 weeks prior to departure. All Avanti West Coast group advance fares require seat reservations.

Quotes given are an indication of the current fares available, and cannot be guaranteed until a booking is confirmed.

Prices quoted are valid for 2 Business days from time of quoting, subject to availability. After this time, prices and availability are subject to change and will be re-quoted based on current availability.

Any verbal quote is an estimate only, subject to availability and can only be guaranteed when the reservation is confirmed.

All bookings must be paid in full within 7 days of booking confirmation or 7 days prior to travel, whichever occurs first.

Bookings made within 7 days of Travel require immediate payment by Debit/Credit Card to confirm the reservation.

Group discount tickets are sold in limited numbers, are subject to availability at the time of booking and should be booked a minimum of 7 days prior to travel. Whilst Avanti West Coast will endeavour to accommodate all requests within 7 days of travel, Avanti West Coast shall not be responsible for the delivery of tickets within this time.

Confirmed numbers must be advised prior to making payment.

Once a reservation has been confirmed & payment applied to the invoice, any changes or amendments to time or date of travel and/or group size will be subject to admin fees, see Refunds/Cancellations/Amendments section for details.

Unless specified, group tickets are issued as one ticket per group per train.

Outward and return (if applicable) services must be specified at time of booking.

Group bookings cannot be used in conjunction with any special offers and/or Railcards.

Tickets are valid ONLY on the date and train service(s) shown on the ticket(s)/travel document(s).

Avanti West Coast group tickets are only valid for travel, if presented alongside seat reservation documentation.

Relevant postage fee will apply to bookings under the value of £250.00. £6.00 charge will be applied for all Special Delivery requests. A £7.00 charge will apply for all international postage.

Groups should arrive at the departure station shown on your seat reservations in good time to catch the train. It is recommended that large groups should arrive at the station at least 30 minutes prior to travel. Groups of 25 or more passengers please make themselves known to a member of station staff on arrival at the station.

If you miss the service on which you are booked, a new ticket will have to be purchased. No group discount will be applied.

Changes to tickets cannot be made on-board the train. If you board a train without a ticket and reservation for that service, you will be required to purchase a new ticket for the journey.

Although a list of travellers is not usually necessary, Avanti West Coast reserves the right to request such list.

Avanti West Coast reserves the right to withdraw its group travel offering at any time without notice.

Refunds/Cancellations/Amendments

We appreciate travel plans might need to be cancelled from time to time.

Once a reservation has been confirmed & payment applied to the invoice, any changes or amendments to time or date of travel and/or group size will be subject to a flat £10 fee per ticket, per change, plus any difference between the fares (i.e. if a smaller level of discount applies to the new services required) and is subject to availability on the alternative departures. Appropriate postage charges will be applied for delivery of the amended tickets and all previous tickets must be returned to Avanti West Coast group travel, at the clients’ expense. A minimum of 14 days notice is required to make amendments to confirmed bookings.

If a refund is required, please contact us as soon as possible and we will advise appropriate procedures accordingly. Please find refund percentages as below:

Group Fares:

• 29 or more day's before travel: 90% of the ticket value will be refunded.
• 28 - 21 day's prior to travel: 50% of the ticket value will be refunded.
• 20 - 15 day's prior to travel: 25% of the ticket value will be refunded.
• 14 day's or less prior to travel: No refund will be given.
• On or after the date of travel: No refund will be given.
• Underground Travelcards are non-refundable.

£10.00 admin fee will also be applied to all refunds.

Exclusive Carriage Hire:

If a refund is required, please contact us as soon as possible and the Group Travel Department will advise appropriate procedures accordingly. Please find refund percentages as below:

• 29 or more days prior travel. 90% of the ticket value will be refunded
• 28 - 21 days prior to travel. 50% of the ticket value will be refunded
• 20 - 15 days prior to travel. 25% of the ticket value will be refunded
• 14 days or less prior to travel. NIL REFUND

For Exclusive Carriage Hire, all seats are booked; refunds for reduced passenger numbers are not possible below the carriage size. For amendments, a £10 admin fee per carriage seat will be applied.

Flexible Non-Group Fares:

If tickets are unused a refund can be processed up to a maximum of 28 days of ticket expiry date. Groups Travel Team must be in possession of the tickets before the ticket expiry to process the refund. Postage to us for refund is at the customers expense. Non receipt of the tickets by the groups team or any missing coupons means a refund will not be possible. £10.00 admin fee will be applied per ticket.

Advanced Non-Group Fares:

Once payment is made tickets are non-refundable.

Terms & conditions of sale

Contract

First Trenitalia West Coast Rail Limited (“the Company”) agrees to supply the services (“the Services”) to the Customer named overleaf (“the Customer”) subject to the following terms and conditions.

Force Majeure and Frustration

Whilst the Company will use all reasonable endeavours to fulfil its contractual obligations here under, it shall not be liable for any delay brought by events which are beyond the control (for any reason) of the Company.

Payment

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the Customer shall make payment for the goods within 7 days of the date of invoice, or 7 full days before travel if this occurs first.

Liability

The Company shall under no circumstances be liable for any indirect, special or consequential loss (including loss of anticipated profit or third party claims) howsoever arising either from breach or non-performance of any if its obligations under the contract or from the supply of or intended use of the Services, even if the Company has been advised of the possibility of such potential loss, except that the Company shall be liable for loss arising from death or personal injury resulting from proven negligence of the Company. The Company’s liability in respect of each group booking shall be limited to the value of any tickets purchased.