Fantastic Day-Trips, Short Breaks and

Luxury Coach Hire from Norwich, Norfolk

Please note that based on the current situation, all forthcoming trips are cancelled until we are in a position to advise otherwise.

Covid 19 Statement – 23rd March

Dear Customers,

Many people, businesses and organisations in this country has had its world thrown upside down by Coronavirus, but for very good reasons - we must follow advice and make public health safety paramount and work together to fight this horrific virus.

Like many of you, we are working through a mix of emotions – frustration, fear and anger. Our list of planned trips and short breaks, dozens of airport transfers, sporting events and schools trips in UK and abroad meant we were taking on a new and additional full time driver. New uniform was ordered and we were set for an exciting year ahead. Within days our businesses effectively shut down with no foreseeable work ahead during the current climate.

We are working through our own emotional responses to this as a team whilst trying to manage the expectations of our customers.

RE-SCHEDULING

We are planning to reschedule dates for as many trips as possible and we know many of the groups hiring our vehicles are looking to do the same. With many businesses in the industry now closed down for the time being this is of course not easy. We are determined that, if we can reschedule trips, those who had already booked should get priority on the tickets for those new dates and likewise for the coach hires and short breaks.

Rescheduling trips a result of the Coronavirus is proving to be a massively complicated process; imagine doing a jigsaw without the picture on the box for guidance!. We are working very closely with our brilliant partners across the whole of the leisure sector to see if this might be possible, but it's neither a quick nor easy thing to figure out.

REFUNDS

- Processing refunds costs our business significant amounts of money because:

1. we have a number of customers who choose to book 'in-person-and-in-cash' - so we have to process and post out cheques, a costly and time consuming process

2. they involve large amounts of staff time

3. we incur financial transaction charges levied on us by banks and credit card companies when selling and refunding tickets.

With our cancelled places now in the thousands and increasing by the day, and based on your feedback, it is clear most are happy to simply transfer to new dates or new trips. At the moment for most cases we just don’t know when these will be. The venues themselves are in a worse position - imagine just one West End show will be having over 12000 cancelled places every week.

We don't feel it's possible to make any refunds just yet until we have bottomed-out all possibilities for rescheduling. We're happy to share that we just lost 98% of our planned income for IC Travel in the last few weeks and likewise all coach bookings for the next 2 months have been put on hold and as the days pass this increases. This will not improve in the short term.

In order for us to make sure that our businesses can come out of this crisis, we are having to insist that we save on any non-essential costs. Processing refunds and exchanges on the number of bookings would be a huge undertaking if we were at full force. Right now, with a dispersed and depleted team, it's not huge, it's beyond mammoth.

January and February sees the slowest months in the leisure industry and is also a time when much investment is made for the months ahead, booking West End tickets for example all of which are paid in advance. With much cash tied up in future tickets and trips and with the absence of new sales the cash flow just cannot currently meet the potential demand.

The world is not operating 'business-as-usual' and we are certainly not able to operate 'business-as-usual'. We are striving to keep as much of our business stable in order to meet customer hopes and expectations moving forward.

We are working with our stakeholders and government bodies with all support possible to keep the business and coaches ready for action when the time comes.

When information is known, bookers for each of affected trips will be contacted directly to offer the option to reschedule to a rearranged or different trip, or have a credit to be used in the future towards any trip.

The final thing we would say is that we are powered by a set of individuals who make up an incredible team, none of whom are exempted from the anxiety, fear and necessity to look after themselves and families that our customers are also experiencing. They are volunteering their time to help where they possibly can.

We are living through a period of time where life for us all is governed by a force we can't control yet we, as humans, are programmed to like control.

We believe that what we do control is our ability to be understanding, patient and kind, and I would ask you all to support us and our team with this. We hope that the information we have shared will help you understand our current position. We are doing it because we believe knowledge is comforting and that this will give you assurances that we are doing our best for you.

Our thanks to you all for your incredible support over many years. With your help, patience and support, we can get through this and we thank you for that in advance as we also send our very best wishes for your safety and good health, and that of all those you love, as we all weather this storm.

Ian Colman Managing Director – IC Travel

Ian Colman, Simon Spencer and Alison Fenton – Co-Directors ICT Coaches