Terms and Conditions

Booking T&C’s Devised 09.04.2024 / revised 01.08.24

By purchasing tickets for The Santa Express you agree to the following terms and conditions.

1. Definitions

When the following phrases with capital letters are used in these Conditions, this is what they will mean:

Event Outside Our Control: is defined in clause 5.

Filming of Children Consent Form: by attending the event, you are consenting to opt into filming of children during the provision of the Experience for the purpose of marketing and publicity. Physical signage placed around the event will also confirm this. Should you wish to opt out you can do so by emailing hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk after the event.

Order: your order for the Experience

Experience: the entertainment on board The Santa Express at Weardale Railway.

Conditions: the conditions set out in this document; and

We/Our/Us/The company: Weardale Railway Ltd registered offices at 58 Kingsway, Bishop Auckland, DL14 7JF, have appointed The Event Pro-Co. to produce and operate the event on behalf of Weardale Railway Ltd.  

The words “writing” or “written” in these Conditions, include e-mail unless we say otherwise.

2. Our contract with you

When you submit your order and make payment, it does not mean we have accepted your order for the experience. Our acceptance of your order will become binding between you and us when we issue you with an email confirmation of your order at which point a contract will come into existence between you and us.

Your order is only confirmed when you receive a “Completed Order” email, accepting your payment.

Your Tickets permit you passage on board the experience on the date and time stated on your order.

3. Changes to order or conditions

We may revise these terms and conditions if there are changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements.

4. The Experience / The Santa Express

We will supply the experience to you on the date and time set out on your order.

You should arrive for your experience no earlier than 30 minutes prior to the time stated on your confirmation ticket email. We will not be liable in any way, if you miss the experience as a result of your late arrival, and will not be obliged to hold up the experience to wait for you, or provide a seat for you on the experience at another date and time than which you had booked.

Whilst we attempt to run the event we may need, at short notice, to make operational changes to enable the event to continue to run, this may include substituting the Diesel Locomotive or running a reduced show which may include but not limited to, alternative sounds, lighting and acting performance.

We will make every effort to complete the experience at the time set out on your order. These are timed tickets, to 1 hour. Our schedule operates with a limited break in between trains of an hour. If there are delays due to ‘Events Outside Our Control’ we will communicate these as soon as we are able too.

We may have to suspend the Experience if we have to deal with operational or mechanical issues. We will make a reasonable effort to contact you to let you know in advance where this occurs, unless the problem is urgent or an emergency. You do not have to pay for the Experience while it is suspended under this clause and will be liable for a refund if we choose not to run the service.

We will not be obliged to allow any child less than 16 years of age on board the Experience unless that child is accompanied by a responsible person aged 18 or over. Unaccompanied children under the age of 16 will not be allowed to board.

Children over the age of 16 must purchase an adult ticket. If you are unable to produce valid proof of age when asked to do so, you may be refused travel on board the Experience.

5. Events Outside Our Control

We will not be liable or responsible for any failure to perform, or delay in performance of, any of our obligations under these Conditions that is caused by an Event outside our control.

An Event outside Our control means any act or event beyond our reasonable control, including without limitation strikes, lock-outs or other industrial action by third parties, civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack, war (whether declared or not) or threat or preparation for war, fire, explosion, storm, flood, earthquake, subsidence, epidemic or other natural disaster, or failure of public or private telecommunications networks.

If an Event outside our control takes place that affects the performance of these are our obligations:

We will contact you as soon as reasonably possible to notify you; and attempt to reschedule the event on a best endeavours basis. In the case of an event outside of our control we do not guarantee the event will run, and we will not make any refunds. We reserve the right to offer you alternative dates.

In the unfortunate event the train is unable to operate, you will be notified as soon as possible and your trip will be rescheduled for as soon as we are able to run. We reserve the right to alter the experience times to allow us to work with any mandatory or advised guidelines. This maybe up to 1 hour either way to allow us to manage social distancing or cleaning requirements. Should the event not being able to be run at all, or the rescheduled date not being suitable, a refund will be offered. Refunds can only be made to the original purchaser and card used, at time of ticket purchase.

In these circumstances refunds may take up to 30 days to process and booking fees and ticket protection will not be refunded. If no government restrictions are in place, our event will operate. We will not refund if you chose not to travel due to personal choice. Booking fees and ticket protection are not refundable in any circumstance.

6. Pricing and payment

The price of the Experience is set out on our website and in literature at the time.

7. Tickets & Seating

Tickets will be emailed to you within an hour of payment being received. You must bring your e-tickets on the day of the event either in print or on your smart phone. Failure to bring your tickets with you may result in you missing your train.

If you know you will be late please continue to the event if safe to do so to see if any tickets have become available however there is no guarantee of this. Please do not bring additional guests in the hope of buying an extra ticket on the day.

Whilst you are able to choose your own seating, we reserve the right to change or cancel these for an alternative, at any point without prior notice. 

8. Your rights to Refunds, Cancellations and order amendments

Due to the popularity of The Santa Express event we are unable to offer any refunds, therefore please ensure you attend on the dates/times selected when you book. In the unfortunate event the train is unable to operate, you will be notified as soon as possible and given a complete refund or the opportunity to reschedule.

As the event takes place in winter please plan appropriately for the road conditions, however this event is not affected by the weather and will run no matter the weather conditions even in rain and snow. The Event Pro-Co. and Weardale Railway Ltd are not liable for any road closures or delays.

You are only liable for a refund should we fail to run the event. There will be NO refunds for guests arriving late due to, but not limited to, poor weather, vehicle breakdowns, public transport, acts of god and anything covered in the Events Outside Our Control. Booking fees and Ticket Protection are not refundable in any circumstance.

All ticket prices are plus a booking fee. We do charge a reschedule or exchange fee of £10 per transaction, tickets can only be exchanged up to 48 hours in advance of your timed ticket. This fee is per transaction not per person. No exchanges can be made less than 48 hours prior.

We reserve the right to check identity for any bookings. If you sell your tickets to another party a £10 admin charge needs to be paid by you to change the names and address of the booking. This can only be done 48 hours in advance.

There will be NO changes to any tickets after 48 hours prior to your event date and time.

We have a strict no refund policy. Tickets cannot be resold, raffled or used for a competition without approval from ourselves. Any unapproved transactions may result in tickets being cancelled. Email hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk for requests or info.

9. Our rights to Refunds & Cancellations

We may cancel the contract for the Experience at any time as a result of an Event Outside Our Control, we will either, at our sole discretion, provide an alternative date for the Experience or, if this is not possible, refund these paid amounts to you.

We may cancel the contract for the Experience at any time by providing you with notice in writing by email. If you have made any payment in advance for the Experience that has not been provided to you, we will either, at our sole discretion, provide an alternative date for the Experience or, if this is not possible, refund these paid amounts to you.

We may cancel the contract for the Experience at any time with immediate effect by giving you written notice, if you break the contract in any material way and you do not correct or fix the situation within 10 days of us asking you to do so in writing. If you break the contract, no refund will be payable and we will not be obliged to provide you with an alternative date for the Experience.

10. Using your personal information

We will use the personal information you provide to us to:

• provide the Experience
• process your payment for the Experience
• By entering into this agreement you agree to us using cookies and storing cookies.
• For future use for marketing of events by Weardale Railway or in events curated and produced by The Event Pro-Co.

11. Passenger Behaviour

We wish to make the Experience as comfortable and enjoyable as possible for all of our guests. Therefore, we ask that you (and any children under your control):

• behave in a reasonable and lawful manner at all times during the Experience;
• comply with any reasonable request from our staff
• be considerate when using mobile phones.

You agree that you shall not:

• be abusive or threatening to any of our staff or any other person
• conduct yourself in a way which may endanger yourself, the carriage or any person or property on board
• obstruct any member of our staff in the performance of their duties or fail to comply with their reasonable instructions
• behave in a manner which causes discomfort, inconvenience, damage or injury to other persons
• obstruct or allow any of your belongings to obstruct any aisle or emergency exit
• play any music players, musical instruments or electronic devices, that are audible and distracting or annoying to any person, or which interfere with, or render less audible, any public address system or other equipment
• take on board the carriage, any alcoholic drinks or drugs (other than medicines) for the purpose of consuming during the Experience
• bring a dog or any other animal on board the Experience. However, we do allow trained assistance dogs on board the Experience
• board the carriage whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• smoking (including electronic cigarettes) on board the carriage and anywhere on Weardale Railway property

If you fail to comply with the above, we will be entitled to remove you from the carriage and the event. We can also refuse you further use of the Experience, and cancel your ticket without refund, as well as take any further steps as we may deem necessary in the circumstances. If we consider it necessary we will contact the Police. We reserve the right to refuse carriage on board the Experience, either on a one-off or permanent basis, to anyone we consider a nuisance or danger to our passengers or our staff, without any further obligation to you. Should you have a complaint please do contact hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk who will respond within 7 working days.

We will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that other passengers behave appropriately during the Experience however, we will not be liable for any act or omission of any other passenger during the Experience. You are responsible and liable for any passenger under the age of 18 who accompanies you.

12. Accessibility

We reserve the right to refuse any large items to be taken on board the experience and into Weardale Railway property.

Larger items including wheelchairs, pushchairs and car seats cannot be carried onto the train or carriages. They must be left at the station in a small designated area at your own risk. We advise leaving these in the safety of your car.

All property and belongings are the responsibility of the owner and we accept NO responsibility for loss or damage to personal belongings on board or left at the station.

If you have lost any items please make us aware as soon as possible. We will take reasonable care of the items should we locate them. Or you can email hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk – please include contact details.

If we find any missing property, we will store it, at your risk, at such location as we deem appropriate until the conclusion of the event, when it will be disposed of or given to charity.

13. Other Important Conditions

This contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms.

Each of the paragraphs of these Conditions operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

If we fail to insist that you perform any of your obligations under these Conditions, or if we do not enforce our rights against you, or if we delay in doing so, that will not mean that we have waived our rights against you and will not mean that you do not have to comply with those obligations. If we do waive a default by you, we will only do so in writing, and that will not mean that we will automatically waive any later default by you.

Should you have any questions relating to these Terms & Conditions please contact hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk who will clarify any aspect.

14. Media and Marketing

During the event we may take photos or video of you to be used for marketing purposes in print, online, broadcasting and radio. By participating you are opting into use of your image, Should you wish not to take part please see a member of staff or contact us at hello@santaexpress-weardalerailway.co.uk. You may request for us to remove your image at any time and we will do our best to comply where it is possible. 

The End