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Introduction :
When you buy a ticket to travel on the railway
network, you enter into an agreement with the Railway Operators. That
agreement gives you the right to make the journey shown on the ticket you
have bought. Conditions of carriage are part of that agreement. They set
out the rights you have - what you can expect of the Railway Operators and
what they are obliged to do.
These Conditions supersede all previous
editions and are valid until further notice. They apply to journeys on
Heathrow Express. The National Conditions of carriage apply to all other
non-international journeys by scheduled passenger train services on the
main line railway network of Great Britain, and London Underground's
Conditions of carriage to journeys on their railways.
Sections:
-
Our
responsibilities
-
Your
responsibilities
-
Tickets
-
Rights
to refunds on tickets
-
Accommodation
on trains
-
Luggage
-
Technical
issues - the small print
-
Definitions
1. Our
responsibilities
1.1 What we will
do
Heathrow Express will carry you between London and
Heathrow. In the event of disruption within our control, we will take you
to your Heathrow Express destination by train, coach or taxi or by a
combination of these. Our liability is limited to the cost of providing a
taxi to that destination. We are not liable for any consequential loss.
Subject to any advertised restrictions, you may join any train for which
your ticket is valid, but we do not guarantee to provide you with a
seat.
1.2 Defined
circumstances
For the purposes of Condition 1, disruption
within our control includes that caused by the acts or omissions of our
staff or agents, but does not include any industrial action they take.
Other circumstances outside our control include:
-
line closures at the request of the police
or emergency services;
-
acts or threats of vandalism or
terrorism;
-
suicides or accidents to trespassers;
-
exceptionally severe weather
conditions;
-
gas leaks or fires in lineside buildings not
caused by ourselves or any of our employees or agents;
-
fire or mechanical failure due to electrical
failure or a defect (except where this is caused by us or our agents, or
as a result of the condition of our trains);
-
industrial action, riots or civil
commotion;
-
acts of war (whether declared or not) or
acts of God.
2. Your
responsibilities
2.1 Make sure you
allow enough time for the journey
Your airline or travel agent
will tell you the minimum check-in time - the time by which you have to be
at their check-in desk at Heathrow or at Paddington.
If you check in at Heathrow, you should allow
adequate time to get from the train to the check-in desk for your minimum
check-in time. We recommend at least fifteen minutes for this at Terminals
2 and 3, and at least ten minutes for your minimum check-in time at
Terminals 1 and 4. Remember that there may be queues at check-in desks
during busy periods.
2.2 Please check
tickets and change at the time of issue
When you buy a ticket,
please make sure that it is for the journey you wanted and that you have
received the correct change. If possible, you should draw any apparent
errors to the attention of the staff at that time. Otherwise, whoever sold
you the ticket will need reasonable proof that an error was made before
putting it right.
2.3 Make sure you are
on the correct train and that you get off at the right
station
Please make sure that you join the correct train (and
the correct part of it) and that you get off at the right station.
Otherwise we will only be responsible for any loss or delay that is caused
if this is due to negligence by us or any of our staff or
agents.
3.
Tickets
3.1 Requirement to
hold a ticket
Tickets are not needed for journeys solely
between the Heathrow stations. A ticket or valid authority to travel is
needed for all other journeys.
We recommend that you
buy a ticket before you start your journey. Our ticket offices, rail and
underground ticket offices and a variety of outlets at Paddington and at
Heathrow sell a range of tickets. You can buy a more restricted range of
tickets on the train. There is a premium added to tickets purchased on
board the train. However, if you wish to purchase a season ticket, collect
a pre-purchased ticket or use a travel warrant, you must do this before
you join the train.
You have the right to use our trains if you
hold a ticket or other authority to travel, as long as it is valid on
those trains for the journey you wish to make. You must have a valid
ticket or other authority to travel when travelling on Heathrow Express
(apart from journeys between the Heathrow stations), or you may be treated
as having joined a train without a ticket and charged the full
fare.
3.2 Buying a ticket
on board
You may buy a ticket on board (Heathrow Express
charge a premuim for this) using cash in sterling, or with the following
credit and debit cards: VISA, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Diner's
Club and Switch. If you buy a ticket on board, you will only be given a
receipt with credit card transactions. However, you won't be asked to
submit your tickets, so this could be used as proof of purchase even when
cash was used.
3.3 Please keep your
ticket ready to show or hand over
You must show or give your
ticket (and any accompanying photocard that is required) to our staff for
inspection when required. If you do not, you will be charged the full
fare.
3.4 The period during
which your ticket can be used
Single and return tickets are
valid for one month from the day of purchase. The period during which a
ticket is valid is printed on the ticket or stated in our notices and
other publications. If the validity of your ticket expires during a
journey (if, for instance, your train does not reach its destination until
after midnight), its validity will be extended to allow you to complete
the journey. If your ticket is no longer valid, we will charge you the
full fare.
3.5 Breaking or
ending a journey at intermediate stations
If your ticket is
for a journey where this is possible, you have the right to break and
resume a journey covered by your ticket (in either direction in the case
of a return ticket) at any intermediate station, provided that your ticket
is valid for the trains you wish to use. You may also end your journey
short of the destination shown on your ticket at any intermediate station.
However, these rights may not apply to certain tickets. If so, this will
be stated in the notices and other publications of the relevant Railway
Operators.
If you break or resume your journey when you
are not entitled to do so, you will be liable to pay the difference
between the price of your ticket and the price of the cheapest ticket
available for immediate travel that would have entitled you to break or
resume your journey on the service you have used. Please note that a
ticket which entitles you to travel on London Underground does not entitle
you to break and resume your journey at any of the stations on the London
Underground network unless it is a season ticket, London Transport Card or
a Travelcard.
If you end your journey at an intermediate
station when you are not entitled to do so, you will have to pay the
difference between the price of your ticket and the price of the cheapest
ticket available for immediate travel that would have entitled you to end
your journey at that station on the service you have used.
3.6 If you travel
further than your ticket allows
If you travel to a station or
zone beyond the one specified on your ticket, you will be treated as
having joined the train without a valid ticket for that additional part of
your journey. You will be charged the fare for it as if it were a separate
journey. Some operators may charge a penalty fare for this.
3.7 You may not
transfer your ticket
A ticket may only be used by the person
for whom it has been purchased. If resold or passed on to anyone else, it
is no longer valid.
4. Rights to refunds on
tickets
4.1 Refunds on
tickets
If you return an unused Heathrow Express ticket to the
place you bought it within 20 minutes of purchase, you will be given an
immediate full refund (if the vendor is Heathrow Express, another Railway
Operator, London Underground or a rail appointed travel agent). Otherwise
you should send the ticket to us (Finance Manager, Heathrow Express,
Freepost SEA4589, Hounslow, TW6 2BR), explaining the
circumstances.
If the Heathrow Express train you want to catch
is cancelled or delayed by any more than 15 minutes, we will give you a
full refund for the Heathrow Express journey which is disrupted. Refunds
will be considered under certain other circumstances. Applications should
be made in writing within the validity of the ticket, to the address
above. An administration charge may be made.
4.2 Method of
refund
Our Customer Service Representatives will supply, on
request, a Customer Refund form which should be completed and sent to us
for consideration. Refunds will normally be made by cheque, or by
crediting a credit card. Cash refunds will be given under certain
circumstances at our ticket offices. However the method of refund is at
our discretion, and special arrangements will apply especially if a
currency other than sterling is involved.
5. Accomodation on
trains
5.1 Where there are
not enough seats
Subject to any advertised restrictions you
may join any train within the date validity of your ticket. While we
always do our best to meet our customers requirements, we are unable to
guarantee to carry you, or to provide you with a seat, on a particular
train. Nor do we guarantee that the accommodation appropriate to your
ticket will always be available.
However if you have a First Class ticket and no
First Class seats are available on the Heathrow Express train you wish to
catch, you may either travel in an alternative class of accommodation on
that train or catch the next one. In either case, a full refund will be
given. Please ask for a Customer Refund Form which should be completed and
sent to us to obtain the refund.
If you have an Express Class ticket and you
travel, without the permission of our staff, in First Class accommodation
(which includes occupying seats or standing in any part of the carriages),
you will have to pay the difference between the price of the ticket
actually purchased and the price of the First Class ticket for the service
you have used.
5.2 Travelling in
First Class accommodation with an Express Class season
ticket
If you have an Express Class season ticket, you may
only travel in First Class accommodation (which includes occupying seats
or standing in any part of the carriages) if you pay the difference
between the full single fare for First Class accommodation and the full
single fare for Express Class accommodation for the service you have
used.
6.
Luggage
6.1 Accompanied
luggage
We will normally accept accompanied luggage on our
trains free of charge. However we will not carry it if in our
opinion:
-
it might cause injury, danger or
inconvenience, or damage to property;
-
there is not enough room for it;
-
its loading or unloading may cause delay to
trains; or
-
it is not carried or packaged in a suitable
manner.We reserve the right to refuse to accept luggage even if it has
been accepted on a previous occasion or is normally accepted.
6.2 Conditions
relating to larger items of luggage, and to animals
Please
note that certain items of luggage are not accepted on our trains.
Heathrow Express will not carry animals, except guide dogs and hearing
dogs (which will be carried free of charge).
Normally, prams should be folded in the
interests of other passengers.
Articles which do not exceed 1580 mm in overall
dimensions (length plus height plus depth) and musical instruments which
you are capable of carrying without assistance will be carried free unless
they occupy a seat required by a customer. For larger articles or where a
seat required by another customer is occupied, you will liable to pay an
additional fare equal to the one you paid for your Heathrow Express
journey. No powered vehicles will be carried except wheelchairs, which
will be carried free. There are at least two wheelchair spaces on each
train.
6.3 Your
responsibilities
If you bring any luggage onto our trains or
premises, you will be responsible for any injury, damage or loss caused by
it as a result of your failing to take reasonable care of it.
6.4 Liability for
luggage
We will only be liable for any loss or damage to, or
delay in the delivery of, luggage or its contents which have been brought
on to our trains or premises if the loss, damage or delay was caused by
the negligence or default of ourselves, our staff or our agents. Our
liability in respect of any item of luggage will not exceed the value of
that item or £5,000, whichever is the lower.
6.5 Lost
property
Lost property found on our premises or trains may not
be regarded as belonging to the finder and must be handed over immediately
to a member of our staff for safekeeping.
If you leave behind any
property on our trains or premises, we will do our best to return it to
you - call us on 0845 600 15 15 we will investigate and advise you what to
do. We or our agents may make a reasonable charge for the return of lost
or unclaimed property to the owner, depending upon the type of article and
the period during which it has been held before it is claimed. We will not
be responsible for any loss, damage or delay unless this is caused by the
negligence of ourselves, our staff.
6.6 Disposal of
unclaimed property
Any items which have not been claimed by
the owner within three months of being found will be regarded as having
been abandoned. They may then be sold or otherwise disposed of and the
proceeds of the sale retained by whoever has custody of them. Articles of
a perishable nature may be disposed of earlier.
6.7 Examination and
destruction of luggage
If luggage is left on our trains or
premises, we have the right to open it and examine the contents before
removing it to a secure place. We may, without being liable, remove or
destroy any luggage or its contents and any other property which might in
our opinion cause injury or inconvenience to persons or damage to
property. We may restrict or refuse access to retrieve an article if it is
reasonable to do so.
7. Technical issues -
the small print
7.1 Conditions on
which tickets are issued
Each ticket is issued subject to
these Conditions and the bye-laws and conditions set out in the notices
and other publications issued by Heathrow Express. Copies of our notices
and other publications (including our bye laws) are available on written
request from Heathrow Express, 4th Floor, Cardinal Point, Newall Road,
Hounslow TW6 2QS.
If the ticket entitles you to obtain any goods
or services from another person (if, for example, it is a ticket allowing
travel on another railway), it is also issued subject to the conditions
set out in the notices and other publications issued by that
person.
7.2 Your
contract
A ticket that has been issued to you is evidence of a
contract between you and the person from whom you bought it (whether a
Railway Operator, a travel agent or another authorised person). Insofar as
your ticket entitles you to travel on Heathrow Express, it is also
evidence of a contract between you and Heathrow Express.
7.3 Impartial
retailing
We will do our best to give you impartial advice
about tickets, train travel, and any restrictions on the use of particular
tickets. Please note that our ticket offices do not sell a full range of
rail tickets, although those of Great Western Trains at Paddington and
Thames Trains at the Heathrow Terminals do.
7.4 Our
agents
A Train Company, travel agent or authorised third party
which issues a ticket that entitles you to use our trains does so as our
agent.
7.5 Authority of a
Railway Operator's staff or agents
Neither our nor any other
Railway Operator's staff or agents have any authority to waive or change
these Conditions, or to extend or vary the scope of our liability under
these conditions.
7.6 Withdrawal of
tickets
If you fail in a material respect to comply with any
condition that governs the use of a ticket, our staff or agents or those
of any Train Company may withdraw the ticket. If they do so, they will
confirm this to you in writing.
7.7 If your ticket is
defaced or damaged
If your ticket has become spoiled or has
been tampered with or altered in any way, it is not valid for travel. If
however you return it to whoever sold it, they will (unless it is
reasonable for them to refuse to do so) issue a replacement. A reasonable
administrative charge may be made for this.
7.8 If you lose or
mislay your ticket
You are responsible for looking after your
ticket. We do not guarantee to replace a lost or mislaid ticket (or a
portion of a ticket) or make a refund in respect of it. Railway Operators
may however, at their discretion, replace certain season tickets in the
circumstances described in Condition 7.7.
7.9 Exclusion of
liability
Except as provided in Condition 1.1, we do not
accept liability for any loss (including consequential loss) caused by the
delay or cancellation of any train, by any missed connection or by the
closure of the railway.
7.10 Refusal of access
Any
person whom we believe likely to act in a riotous, disorderly or offensive
manner may be refused access to, or may be required to leave, trains,
platforms or stations.
7.11 When you have to change
trains
If you have to change trains on a journey you are
making, you will be responsible for transferring yourself and your luggage
between the trains and, if necessary, between stations unless you have
made other arrangements with one of the Railway Operators in
advance.
7.12 The trains you can use and the
times you can travel
Tickets are only valid on Heathrow
Express trains if they say so explicitly.
Tickets, including reduced and discounted
tickets and those bought in conjunction with a railcard, may be subject to
restrictions as to the dates, days, times within a day and trains on which
they can be used. These restrictions are set out in the notices and other
publications of the Railway Operators whose trains you are entitled to
use.
If you travel on a train with a ticket which is
not valid on that train because of such a published restriction, you will
have to pay the difference between the price of that ticket and the
cheapest ticket available for immediate travel that would have entitled
you to travel on that train for the journey shown on your ticket. In the
case of some types of ticket, you will have to pay more than this. If so,
this will be stated in the notices and other publications of the relevant
Railway Operators. On Heathrow Express, you may instead have to buy a
single ticket for your journey and apply for a refund of the difference as
described in section 4.1.
7.13 The route you can
take
If a particular route or service is specified on your
ticket, you can only use that route or service. Otherwise where your
ticket allows travel on Heathrow Express and beyond Heathrow Express
destinations, subject to any restrictions stated on your ticket, you have
the right to travel on any of the following routes:
-
if the ticket states that it can be used in
a particular zone or zones, on any route within such zone or zones;
and
-
where the ticket entitles you to travel
outside a specified zone or zones, on the route taking the shortest
distance that can be travelled on regular scheduled passenger services
between the stations stated on the ticket; and on any other route or
routes that are permitted for your journey (details of which are
published in the National Routing Guide, available at Train Companies'
staffed sales points).
Together, these are known as the "permitted
routes" for the journey.
If you make your journey by any other route
(except when travelling by a through train), you will be liable to pay the
difference between the price of your ticket and the price of the cheapest
ticket available for immediate travel that would have entitled you to
travel by that route on the service you have used. On our trains it may
not be possible to pay the difference (it may only be possible to pay the
difference before you start your journey). Therefore you will be charged
the full fare and will have to claim a refund on your unused
ticket.
7.14 International
tickets
Tickets issued for surface journeys between Great
Britain and the Continent or the Republic of Ireland are subject to the
Conditions of Carriage (International Traffic) and the International
Conditions of Carriage (CIV). Both these sets of conditions are available
for inspection at the places at which such tickets are sold. Neither
Heathrow Express nor National Conditions of Carriage apply to such
journeys.
7.15 Carriage by road
vehicles
These Conditions apply to the carriage of customers
and their luggage in road vehicles which we own or which are operated by
any other party on our behalf. For these purposes, the term "train"
includes any road vehicle owned or operated by us or on our
behalf.
7.16 Claims against a Railway
Operator
If you have a claim against a Railway Operator for
personal injury or any loss or damage to property, you may, instead of
taking proceedings against that Railway Operator, use the Railway Claims
Handling procedure. This procedure is designed to help you make such
claims and will avoid you having to show which Railway Operator (or other
railway company) was at fault.
The address to write to is:
Railway Claims Limited, Room E214, Macmillan
House Paddington, London W2 1FT
In all other cases, claims under these
conditions should be made initially to whoever sold you your
ticket.
7.17 Governing
law
These Conditions will be governed by English law. Any
person bringing an action under these Conditions irrevocably submits to
the jurisdiction of the English Courts.In these Conditions:
-
"London Underground" means London Regional
Transport and its subsidiaries and Docklands Light Railway
Limited;
-
"Train Company" means a company which runs
domestic scheduled passenger trains on the rail network in Great
Britain, but not London Underground or Heathrow Express;
-
"Railway Operator" means a Train Company or
Heathrow Express;
-
"Rail Service Company" means Railtrack PLC,
any person (other than a Railway Operator) who operates a station and
any person who hires rolling stock to a Railway Operator, but does not
include London Underground or Heathrow Express;
-
"agent" means a travel agent, a Train
Company, a Rail Service Company, Heathrow Airport Ltd. or London
Underground or any agents acting on behalf of Heathrow Express, but for
the purposes of section 6 does not include airline check-in
staff;
-
"season ticket" includes any ticket which
gives you the right to travel between the stations or within the zones
specified on it for the period shown on it up to and including the
expiry date shown on it. This includes the right to break and resume
your journey, as described in Condition 3.6. The definition includes
season tickets, Gold Cards, Travelcards, and multi-journey tickets,
having a validity of more than one day; and
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"us" and "we" means Heathrow Express; and
"our" means Heathrow Express's. | 
