You are here

  1. Home
  2. Booking Information & Terms and Conditions

Booking Information & Terms and Conditions

Booking Information & Terms and Conditions for OU Club trips and events.

Please ensure you have read this document below before you book tickets.

This information aims to detail specific T&Cs regarding booking places or tickets for trips and events advertised by the OU Club.

  • These events are a staff benefit.
  • We have a limited number of places on each trip.
  • Our trip coordinators and Ents committee are all volunteers
  • If you want to put your name down for a trip in person, please visit Susan Scimè in the OU Club, Geoffrey Crowther.
  • Please be aware Susan cannot tell you if you have tickets allocated. See below for more information.

Can I attend OU Club Trips?

Everyone who works at The Open University is entitled to join OU Club social events at staff rates.

Have we got your interest? Here's how to find out more

Watch this website – we update this site regularly to ensure that new trips are advertised here first.

Get yourself signed up to the Club Events list

How to sign up to the Club events list

The OU Club-events email list allows you to receive regular emails regarding social events, discounts and offers organised by the OU Club along with shows at the theatre MK and in London, organised by the Theatre Group Bookers.

You may add yourself to this mailing list, instructions as below. However, should you experience any difficulty, please contact Susan Scimè or Julie Hope-Gratton who will be happy to do this for you.

http://mail-lists.open.ac.uk

You may need to put in your OUCU and password if not already logged onto the Intranet

Click the OU staff button - or - if you're not OU Staff, enter an email address and submit.

Find club-events-list in either the subscribed lists (this means you are already a member) or in the other lists menu, and hit the subscribe key.

Please note all changes to this system take 24 hours to process.

Price categories

The OU Social trips and events normally have 3 prices categories:

  • OU Staff (this includes retired OU Staff , AL’s and Research Students)
  • Guest rate (for friends and family)
  • Child rate

Please state which categories you want when you book.

It is not possible to reassign places to different categories, e.g. it is not possible to book 2 guest tickets and then ask for a refund if staff members attend. – Unless there are exceptional circumstances

How many tickets can I request?

There are a certain number of places available on each trip.

As our trips and events are staff benefits, and they are often oversubscribed, we are now limiting the number of guest tickets, one staff member can apply for.


For each group of tickets there must be at least 1 staff member.


You can request 4 guest tickets per staff member attending (so 2 staff members can bring 8 guests, etc.). This does not include child tickets – these are still unrestricted in number.

If you want to book for more guest tickets, please do let us know in your email and if there is space we will try and accommodate you, however only 4 places will be allocated if the trip is oversubscribed.

I want to come on a trip, what do I need to do now?

You need to do the following:

  • Read this booking information
  • Visit Susan in the OU Club in Geoffrey Crowther OR email us at ou-club-social@open.ac.uk
  • Put the name of the Event in the subject field OR follow the email link from the event page
  • In the email please put the number of staff/guest/child tickets you require, your name and department.
  • If the advert asks for any other information, please let us know e.g. dietary requirements/am/pm preference

Equal Opportunities and Accessibility

The OU Club strives to promote Equal Opportunities and Accessibility for all on our trips, wherever we can.

We can cater for wheelchair access on events, making use of the OU Minibus, (unfortunately no coach company in our area offers accessible coaches.) We can organise special dietary and accessibility requirements at events, when they have been requested in advance.

Please advise us as soon as you can if you require any additional requirements when booking our trips. Please note: Some venues are set up to be more accessible than others.

What are the deadlines?

When a trip is advertised either by email or on the website there are 3 important deadlines:

BOOKING Open is the date and time at which the booking for the trip will be open.

BOOKING Deadline is the date when you need to have requested your places by (normally around 2 weeks after the trip goes on sale.) For random draw events we will draw lots on this date at 4pm and you will then get an email confirming whether you have been allocated tickets.

If you need to change or cancel your request please ensure this is done before the BOOKING DEADLINE at 4pm, otherwise you will be responsible for paying for your places. We will have confirmed our places with our suppliers so they cannot be cancelled. It will be down to you to try and resell them on the intranet. If there is a waiting list we can pass on this information.

PAYMENT Deadline we need your payment by cheque or cash by this date. Where possible, we try to coincide this with payday. You will get 1 payment reminder. If you wish to pay cash please do not send it through the internal mail, please visit Susan personally. See below for non-payment and if you are away.

In exceptional circumstances please do contact the ou-club-social@open.ac.uk or visit Susan in the Club Office.

Allocation of places

For most trips the spaces are allocated by random draw.

On certain trips - it will be on a first come first served basis. These are marked as such on their Event webpage and email. This is normally due to a short timescale for holding places.

On Silverstone experiences it's staff, then staff plus guest.

You will be notified which allocation type is being used on the website.

When do I know if I have been allocated tickets?

You will receive a response confirming if you have been successfully allocated places and requesting payment on the BOOKING DEADLINE. If you have not been allocated tickets for this trip you will also receive an email on the booking deadline, and we will operate a waitlist, if we run the same trip again you will get first refusal.

One of my group has a medical condition, and needs additional assistance

Please make us away in your booking email as soon as possible; we will do our best to accommodate you. . Unfortunately, our coach company currently does not offer coaches with special access, although we can use the OU minibus if available.

How do I cancel or change my request?

If you need to cancel your request, please email ou-club-social@open.ac.uk as soon as possible - this must be before the BOOKING DEADLINE goes out (see the date on the website).

After the payment request email has been sent you will NOT be able to cancel tickets as the price is calculated on the total number of places sold. You will have to pay for the tickets and try and resell them. Sorry!


In exceptional circumstances please contact the ou-club-social@open.ac.uk

I'm going on holiday close to the deadline date

Payment will be requested on or just after booking deadline, if you are going to be away, please contact us before you go at ou-club-social@open.ac.uk with your trip in the subject line and let us know, so we can arrange payment.

If you are away and we have to pay before your return (and we don't know) you may lose your places.

How and when do I pay for an event?

Payment can be made by cheque or cash. Please make cheques payable to "The Open University" You can either post this or drop it to Susan Scimè in the OU Club, Geoffrey Crowther.

If you want to pay by cash please do NOT send it by internal mail, please deliver it to Susan in the Club Office

There is normally a 2-3 week period before the Payment Deadline (which is shown on the website) - which is the last date we can accept payment.

You will get 1 reminder email, and we'll need your payment by the payment date.

Where do I send the cheque to?

Please ensure you mark your envelopes PRIVATE and send to Susan Scimè, Club Co-ordinator, OU Club Office, Geoffrey Crowther. Please include the name of the trip.

How do I know if my cheque has been received?

After the deadline you will receive an email confirming that all payments have been received and have been passed for banking and this email will often include details on the trip.

Non-payment

Please be aware: We will have already confirmed and paid for the tickets with our suppliers and therefore non-payment will result in us may having to reduce the discount we can offer on future trips due to lack of funds.

With this in mind, non-payment will result in the following action being taken.

  1. First non-payment, a caution will be given.
  2. If this is repeated, there will be an exclusion from all OU Club events for 1 year.
  3. Should non-payment be repeated for a third time, a permanent exclusion will be issued. This can only be reversed at the OU Club Committee’s discretion.

We are aware that there are, on occasion’s exceptional circumstances. Should this be the case during any of the above stages, please submit this in writing to the OU Club Office. This will be presented to OU Club Committee for their consideration.

Cancellation of Events

If the OU Club has to cancel an event, we will give you as much notice as possible, and offer an alternative date or a refund, as appropriate.

If the venue cancels an event, the OU Club will seek to rebook and offer attendees another date. If you cannot attend this new date you will need to let us know within a specified timeframe, we will offer you a refund, as appropriate.

Overseas trips, by accepting a place on the trip, you are confirming that you have appropriate travel insurance in place should delays or cancellations take place. You will need to provide the Club Office with details of this policy when you are paying for the deposit of your trip.

If the coach breaks down, the coach company will aim to provide a new coach as soon as possible.

In case of Inclement weather; if the trip is running, then we are unable to offer refunds.

If weather prevents the coach from collecting us at the OU, then we will look to reschedule or offer refunds, as appropriate.

Complaints

If you have a complaint, please contact the ou-club-social@open.ac.uk in the first instance, for further investigation.