I thought I would draw to members attention the rules regarding compensation for delayed and cancelled Ferries.
In January we arrived at Dover to catch a pre booked ferry to Calais with DFDS Ferries. What happened next was a joke. Our ferry was cancelled and we waited nearly 4 hours before being shoved onto a ferry to Dunkerque and yet other operators were crossing to Calais. When we tried to get a change to another operator our request fell on deaf ears. Also, they did not offer us a full refund at that point.
We were then told on the ferry crossing to Dunkerque by the crew, it was all down to the French crew's who refused to cross in rough weather.
At no time did DFDS come to our aid or offer us compensation etc until I lodged a formal complaint 4 months after the event.
In essence they gave me a refund of £68.50, but and it's a big but, only because I gave them a load of attitude. (and I did this because I found out there were laws in place to cover this eventuality that DFDS must have known about but choose to remain quite about, no doubt in the hope I was not aware of my rights)
A copy of their email is below and thought this would be useful for all members to be aware of.
I've accepted their compensation and told them I wont be using them again.
Good Afternoon Mr Tew,
Our Reference:
Thank you for your response.
We have reviewed your case and taken into consideration the points you have outlined in your most recent emails.
In important matters such as this we must be consistent in the way which we administer our terms and conditions to everyone, in accordance with our responsibilities, as prescribed in EU Regulation 1177/2010 and as set out in our Standard Terms & Conditions.
It is to my understanding that the 05:15 hours departure from Dover to Calais on 10 January 2015 was cancelled due to severe weather conditions. When a situation such as this arises, regrettably it is completely beyond our control and it is the decision of the Captain to decide if he deems it safe to depart. On this occasion the next available departure was the 08:00 hours to Dunkirk, of which you chose to accept.
Where a carrier reasonably expects the departure of a passenger service to be cancelled or delayed for more than 90 minutes beyond its scheduled time of departure, passengers departing from port terminals shall be offered free of charge snacks, meals or refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time, provided they are available or can reasonably be supplied. As your delay in departure exceeded 90 minutes, you should have been provided with refreshments. We are sorry if we have failed on this occasion, and therefore would like to reimburse you with the equivalent costing of these refreshment vouchers, which equate to £9.00 per person; £18.00 total.
Where a passenger service is cancelled or delayed in departure from a port for more than 90 minutes, passengers shall have the right to such re-routing at the earliest opportunity and at no additional cost, or reimbursement of the ticket price from the carrier. We can see that on this occasion you have taken the option of rerouting to travel on our Dover-Dunkirk route, and as stated in my previous email we would like to supply you with the fuel costs incurred; £8.00 total.
The 56 minute delay in departure I refer to in my first email is in regards to the vessel scheduled to depart from Dover to Dunkirk at 08:00 hours on 10 January 2015. I can see from our Operational Log that this vessel left the berth at 08:56 hours, arriving into Dover at 11:59 hours local time. From this scheduled crossing this delay in arrival is 59 minutes. Again the length in this delay in arrival does not entitle to you to compensation as the minimum time for compensation to be paid is 1 hour. We appreciate that this is only 1 minute below the requirement, and therefore we would like to offer you 25% reimbursement of this leg of your journey, which equates to £18.75.
Overall, reviewed compensation due to you is:
- EU Regulations Article 17(1), provision of refreshments in relation to the waiting time; £18.00
- EU Regulations Article 18, rerouting to the final destination at no additional cost; £8.00
- EU Regulations Article 19, compensation in relation to delay in arrival of the 08:00 hours departure from Dover; £18.75
- EU Regulations Article 19, compensation in relation to delay in arrival of the 20:00 hours departure from Calais; £23.75
Total reimbursement due equates to £68.50.
In customary fashion this offer is “without prejudice” and in full and final settlements of the matter.
We appreciate how this disruption had a delay on your onward travel plans, and we truly sympathise. We do hope that you can understand that sometimes situations arise, such as severe weather conditions, to which we cannot control. As already stated, the decision of the cancellation of a vessel due to weather conditions affecting the safe departure of the vessel is down to the Captain. The health and safety of our passengers and crew is our main priority. Please know that if there was any way we could have avoided these disruptions we would have done so.
We do hope that you can see our revised offer as more satisfactory. As stated in my previous email, this amount can be reimbursed into to your PayPal account, or alternatively you may chose to use it as a credit towards a future Eastern Channel crossing with us within the next 12 months. Please confirm your acceptance and your preference in full by return email.
In closing, we deeply value your relationship with DFDS and are committed to providing you with the highest level of service. I hope the above goes some way to reassure you and represents a fair resolution. We look forward to hearing back from you to hopefully accept our revised offer to compensate you for the inconvenience experienced.
Once again, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused, and we do hope that you will choose to travel with us again in the future.
Kind Regards
In January we arrived at Dover to catch a pre booked ferry to Calais with DFDS Ferries. What happened next was a joke. Our ferry was cancelled and we waited nearly 4 hours before being shoved onto a ferry to Dunkerque and yet other operators were crossing to Calais. When we tried to get a change to another operator our request fell on deaf ears. Also, they did not offer us a full refund at that point.
We were then told on the ferry crossing to Dunkerque by the crew, it was all down to the French crew's who refused to cross in rough weather.
At no time did DFDS come to our aid or offer us compensation etc until I lodged a formal complaint 4 months after the event.
In essence they gave me a refund of £68.50, but and it's a big but, only because I gave them a load of attitude. (and I did this because I found out there were laws in place to cover this eventuality that DFDS must have known about but choose to remain quite about, no doubt in the hope I was not aware of my rights)
A copy of their email is below and thought this would be useful for all members to be aware of.
I've accepted their compensation and told them I wont be using them again.
Good Afternoon Mr Tew,
Our Reference:
Thank you for your response.
We have reviewed your case and taken into consideration the points you have outlined in your most recent emails.
In important matters such as this we must be consistent in the way which we administer our terms and conditions to everyone, in accordance with our responsibilities, as prescribed in EU Regulation 1177/2010 and as set out in our Standard Terms & Conditions.
It is to my understanding that the 05:15 hours departure from Dover to Calais on 10 January 2015 was cancelled due to severe weather conditions. When a situation such as this arises, regrettably it is completely beyond our control and it is the decision of the Captain to decide if he deems it safe to depart. On this occasion the next available departure was the 08:00 hours to Dunkirk, of which you chose to accept.
Where a carrier reasonably expects the departure of a passenger service to be cancelled or delayed for more than 90 minutes beyond its scheduled time of departure, passengers departing from port terminals shall be offered free of charge snacks, meals or refreshments in reasonable relation to the waiting time, provided they are available or can reasonably be supplied. As your delay in departure exceeded 90 minutes, you should have been provided with refreshments. We are sorry if we have failed on this occasion, and therefore would like to reimburse you with the equivalent costing of these refreshment vouchers, which equate to £9.00 per person; £18.00 total.
Where a passenger service is cancelled or delayed in departure from a port for more than 90 minutes, passengers shall have the right to such re-routing at the earliest opportunity and at no additional cost, or reimbursement of the ticket price from the carrier. We can see that on this occasion you have taken the option of rerouting to travel on our Dover-Dunkirk route, and as stated in my previous email we would like to supply you with the fuel costs incurred; £8.00 total.
The 56 minute delay in departure I refer to in my first email is in regards to the vessel scheduled to depart from Dover to Dunkirk at 08:00 hours on 10 January 2015. I can see from our Operational Log that this vessel left the berth at 08:56 hours, arriving into Dover at 11:59 hours local time. From this scheduled crossing this delay in arrival is 59 minutes. Again the length in this delay in arrival does not entitle to you to compensation as the minimum time for compensation to be paid is 1 hour. We appreciate that this is only 1 minute below the requirement, and therefore we would like to offer you 25% reimbursement of this leg of your journey, which equates to £18.75.
Overall, reviewed compensation due to you is:
- EU Regulations Article 17(1), provision of refreshments in relation to the waiting time; £18.00
- EU Regulations Article 18, rerouting to the final destination at no additional cost; £8.00
- EU Regulations Article 19, compensation in relation to delay in arrival of the 08:00 hours departure from Dover; £18.75
- EU Regulations Article 19, compensation in relation to delay in arrival of the 20:00 hours departure from Calais; £23.75
Total reimbursement due equates to £68.50.
In customary fashion this offer is “without prejudice” and in full and final settlements of the matter.
We appreciate how this disruption had a delay on your onward travel plans, and we truly sympathise. We do hope that you can understand that sometimes situations arise, such as severe weather conditions, to which we cannot control. As already stated, the decision of the cancellation of a vessel due to weather conditions affecting the safe departure of the vessel is down to the Captain. The health and safety of our passengers and crew is our main priority. Please know that if there was any way we could have avoided these disruptions we would have done so.
We do hope that you can see our revised offer as more satisfactory. As stated in my previous email, this amount can be reimbursed into to your PayPal account, or alternatively you may chose to use it as a credit towards a future Eastern Channel crossing with us within the next 12 months. Please confirm your acceptance and your preference in full by return email.
In closing, we deeply value your relationship with DFDS and are committed to providing you with the highest level of service. I hope the above goes some way to reassure you and represents a fair resolution. We look forward to hearing back from you to hopefully accept our revised offer to compensate you for the inconvenience experienced.
Once again, we are sorry for any inconvenience caused, and we do hope that you will choose to travel with us again in the future.
Kind Regards
