Consuming Interest
Traveller's Woe
ADRIA By LESLIE TliOgli innocents abroad, did they ever exist? It is more likely that the real innocents are caught on their home ground. This is post-mortem time: the more unlucky returning holidaymakers (especially those who relied on others to make their plans) are now in the throes of discussing why their holiday went wrong.
From the newspapers come all those heart- breaking stories of tourists stranded in Spain or crammed into damp and disheartening pensions, and there are those chatty, intimate Sunday pieces about the sinister customs of the Latins.
But it came to my notice only a few days ago that it was quite easy to be fleeced only a stone's throw from Temple Bar. An unlucky couple. having handed over about £96 for a fortnight's holiday on the Costa Brava. had to cancel their holiday when the girl suddenly went into ltosp:tal.
The rules of the agency asked for a deposit of £3 each, forfeited on cancellation, the rest to he paid at least three weeks before departure. They withdrew their booking one week after paying the £90 balance. Unfortunately for them, they had not dealt directly with the travel agency; all their arrangements had been made through a booking agent. a little man much preoccupied with a theatre ticket business, who forgot to notify his principals of the cancellation. They were stunned to be faced with a loss of £20. de- manded by the principal agency for expenses. At English hotelS, the proprietor is entitled to claim his loss of profit unless the room is re-let, a sum which is usually covered by the deposit. But the agency in this case, while listing twelve conditions absolving the. company from, respon- sibility no matter what, makes no .mention of the client's liability (beyond the deposit).if he has to cancel after paying for the holiday.
1 discussed the case with the Association of British Travel Agents. (The principal 'agents were members, not so the inefficient middleman.) My suggestion that the booking conditronS should state that some part of the cost of latccancel- lation might have to he borne by the.elients was not considered, by the Association, to be very helpful. Where no mention is made of the client's possible liability, they told me, it is easier for the agency to return most of'his money: Hotels, air- lines and railways would be less accommodating if forfeiture clauses were printed on agency hooking forms.
The fact that the main agency had a change of heart a few days ago (due to badgering by the im- poverished pair and pressure from the ABTA) and promised to refund most of the money, has not weakened the case for making cancellations the subject of more, explicit booking conditions.
Although our young couple were asking for trouble by not going to a reputable agent with ABTA membership, they should not be robbed before they can even get to brigand country. Other complaints I hear concern the venality of couriers employed by British agencies (the take- off racket) and the difficulty of booking (and getting) single rooms. I would be very glad to hear how other wounded and pilfered and other- wise ill-treated travellers have fared: apart from anything else, I would like to know which side of the Channel is really the safer.
Another thing I wish I knew is how people who wear glasses stand legally. I have in front of me a long correspondence between the BBC and a reader—solicitors from both sides intervening— concerning a problem which arose entirely out of the fact that the programme for a BBC concert in King's College Chapel (Cambridge) had the time of the performance printed in large print, and the time at which the audience must take their seats printed in small print. My correspon- dent and his party arrived at 8.25 for an 8.30 performance and were refused admittance; they claim that they could perfectly well have been shown to their seats in time. The BBC, while apologising, say the party was not there in reason- able time (though no one doubts they were there by 8.25). They have, none the less, repaid the price of the seats, but refuse to admit liability for such ancillary expenses as rail tickets and hotel. bills. There certainly, seems to have been a great muddle at the doors, and I should say, from studying the correspondence, that it would have been possible for the party to be admitted, as their seats were not among those made inacces- sible by the arrival of the choir. Whether the party should claim money for all the annoyance and expense arising from the misunderstanding, 1 should rather doubt; but that the situation should never have arisen is abundantly clear. And it would not have done, if the printing on the pro- gramme had been in larger type. I hope next year the BBC, ever cautious of public disapproval, decide to print their instructions in large red let- ters two inches high.
By the same token, record companies should take into account the problems of those who can hardly be bothered to put on their spectacles every time they put on a new record. Granted that you can often recognise the record itself from the sleeve or its place on the shelf, could we not have the figures '1' and '2' printed large and obvious? I cannot see it would detract from the design of the label, and it would save anyone with tricky eyesight a great deal of bother— quite apart from those who, with perfect eye- sight, play records in smoke-darkened cellars.
For the benefit of people who go in for self- drive car hire the AA has just published a useful booklet listing 900 operators of this service in 470 places in England, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight. Leaflets are already available listing operators in London, Ireland and the Channel Islands and these, like the booklet, are available free to members from any AA office.
Apart from listing operators, the booklet gives such useful warnings as these: read the contract carefully before you sign it, especially the sec- tions on insurance; check the condition of the bodywork and interior in case there should be any danger of your being held responsible for damage already done by someone else; try to arrange that you be charged at what proves to be the most economical rate when you return the car rather than agreeing in advance to the low weekly charge plus so much per mile, the medium charge including some mileage and a rate per mile beyond that or the high charge allowing un- limited mileage. Many operators will be willing to make an arrangement of this kind if you ask them to do so. Otherwise, as I have found from personal experience, they are likely to charge you at the rate which they estimate in advance will be most advantageous to them.
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