7 total I mean. How can the booking even exist for 7 people? It does seem to me that the agent at the time booked all 7 without being in receipt of even a low deposit for them.

OP, your daughter should have received confirmation of the booking in the post, was this not received?

its a difficult one this, i dont understand why the TA only took a low deposit for 4 people when it was a booking for 8. surely they have similar t&c's to other TA's and has to take the total amount of deposit (whether it a low or full deposit) at time of booking. the only thing i can think of is if it was a NIL deposit and the 4 people present just to decided to pay some money there and then, but we havent done nil deposits for a couple of years as we found we were having problems with them but i cant speak for all TA's.

That's what is puzzling me. I honestly think it's something to do with the person at the TO who took the booking covering her back as it must have gone through as a confirmed booking for 7 travellers.

Yes that is what i was thinking, maybe the Agent booked the holiday for 8 people then when it came to taking the payment of the deposits, was told that 4 will pay today and 4 will pay tomorrow. Maybe the agent then agreed that this was ok and went ahead with getting the signatures off the lead. if this is the case then both parties are in the wrong, the TO shouldnt have agreed to it, and the lead on the booking shouldnt of signed anything unless it stated that it was ok to take extra monies in the next day.

When you enter in to a contract , it is legally binding - The key thing here I feel is the booking form!

For a contract to be binding , it would need to be agreed by both parties , and documentation (ie booking form) signed by the lead name to show that the conditions set in the contract are agreeable to the person entering in to the contract ( i.e payment of full deposit should the holiday be cancelled before the payment is due)

It is not legal for any person under the age of 18 to enter in to a legally binding contract , so a booking form signed by a person under the age of 18 could not be taken as a legally binding document - In my opinion.

If the author of the topic did give permission for her daughter to be lead name on the booking , then I would expect it be the author who signed the booking form , without this I doubt that the travel agents claim would with stand in court.

I wonder if the TA took say £40 per person for 4 people, but on paper held £20 per person against 8 people. ie split the actual cash/cheque handed over between all eight names.

Perhaps there is nothing set in tablets of stone as to the amount that actually constitutes a low deposit and this was a way for a TA to secure the booking for all eight people, thus enabling them to request the balance of the deposit at a later stage for all 8 named.

Never really come across this before. sounds complex if the above is the case and maybe a bit dubious.

Thats what I'm thinking they've done! They've taken whatever payment they could from the girls and divided it between all 8 of them!!! This way they'd have done the booking for the 8 people and taken a smaller amount of low deposit! Somewhere though you should have a copy saying that the proper deposit will be owed and must be paid if cancelled!

For a contract to be binding , it would need to be agreed by both parties , and documentation (ie booking form) signed by the lead name to show that the conditions set in the contract are agreeable to the person entering in to the contract ( i.e payment of full deposit should the holiday be cancelled before the payment is due)

Not always true - how else would we or TOs ever be held to honour telephone or Internet bookings? I never have had to sign anything for flights or holidays booked over the Net but an enforceable contract clearly exists.

It is not legal for any person under the age of 18 to enter in to a legally binding contract , so a booking form signed by a person under the age of 18 could not be taken as a legally binding document - In my opinion.

This might be true in England but it isn't in Scotland - 16 year olds can enter into contracts and can obtain credit. There have been a few recent publicised cases of extremely upset parents up here realising that their 16-18 yr olds have been allowed to take out credit cards or been given overdrafts on a student current accounts without the parents' knowledge and there hasn't been a great deal they could legally do about it. Irresponsible lending? Clearly, yes, but illegal lending? No. 16 yr olds don't always have an automatic right to it and some companies do adopt the policy of not allowing under 18s to enter into legal contracts with them but this is a matter of company policy and not law and is challengeable in some circumstances. This raises the interesting point of, if this happened in Scotland, what would the attitude of the TA/TO be in the case where a legally enforceable contract had been entered into by a 16 yr old contrary to company policy? It would need someone better versed in contract law in Scotland than me to answer that one!

SM

OOops Mods! Must have hit the quote button with the cursor in the middle of a sentence and I can't edit the blank quote box out! Feel free to do so1

SM

YEs , if you book online , you still enter a contract - however you will be asked to agree to terms and conditions before bookings are accepted otherwise you will not be able to proceed - the contract is bound by this agreement.

All phone bookings should mean that the T & C of early booking deposits etc are explained to you before booking proceeds - unfortunatly this is not always the case and sometimes over eager sales advisors skip this in order to secure the booking.

I think the TA has to accept some responsibilty , as they accepted the booking without an 18 year old as lead name - I have worked as a sales advisor for a TA before and was also told to make sure the lead name was 18 - if there wasnt an 18 year old then the lead name was an adult who consented to the trip and they did not have to travel.

That said , it is very easy for anyone to walk in and book holidays and then think it is easy to walk away from obligation , the agent worked on the booking and accepted it in good faith , I wonder would the holiday have been booked by the group had they been required to make the full deposit?

when my son and his friend's whent on their first holiday alone ,he had to be lead name as he would be the first one to be eighteen
by the time they went.
but as he was only seventeen when they booked i had to go with him to agree that he could act as lead name.
so i would get this checked out as others have said with a solicetor.

doepsmc wrote:

Perhaps there is nothing set in tablets of stone as to the amount that actually constitutes a low deposit and this was a way for a TA to secure the booking for all eight people, thus enabling them to request the balance of the deposit at a later stage for all 8 named.

Hiya,

There is no minimum amount that a low deposit has to be - although in my shop we have a minimum of £10pp (subject to regional managers permission) We are basically told to take as much as we can if we have to do a low deposit.

What it looks like is the TA has taken the cash that they have taken on the booking day, and split it between all names on the booking - with the t&c's about the low deposit plan on the paperwork that would have been signed on the day of booking.

I wouldnt like to comment about the age issue of the lead passenger as i have never experienced this so would be guessing! However because the OP has given a letter of consent, im not sure if erases the need for the 18 year old to be the lead pax? But like i said, im purely guessing.

I have been a travel agent for 12 years and the low deposit scheme was the bain of my life !!!

We would take a booking off a "under 18 " old but we always made sure that at least one parent came in and guarunteed the booking and signed .

in my present agency we do not offer them as they are more hassle than they are worth !!!! But multiples (especially in larger towns where there is more competition)they are in all honesty a very good marketing tool !

I have been reading this thread with interest, has the outcome been resolved by Ros ?

Michelle x