Weston Super Saint

Lol, this making things up on the fly stance that the Government is taking isn't working out particularly well! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53602362 So you can't have a BBQ in the garden with your family (if they live in seperate houses) on what is forecast to be one of the hottest weekends of the year, but you CAN go to the pub with potentially hundreds of strangers! A cynical person might suggest this stance is aimed at making sure the tills keep ringing! But..... That's only if you and your family live up North. If you live in Manchester and your family live in Birmingham, Bristol, Southampton etc, fill your boots!

Welcome to the new 'normal'

The original point was expanded with subsequent posts. HTH, do try to keep up.

All of them?

Nothing special about ABTA at all. Your original question asked 'why' people should get their money back. I've given an answer to that question based on ABTA rules and FCO advice. If anyone is booking a holiday that is not covered by ABTA or ATOL, then there is absolutely no reason why they should be given a refund, more fool them for not wanting that extra protection!

To be fair, you can only get it in Tescos from last Friday when masks were made compulsory - except if you don't have one, then that's fine because you have money, right and they want your money! Luckily, before last week it was only in gyms and swimming pools and they were closed. They're open now so it's moved out and gone into the shops! Makes perfect sense!

Of course it does, I've never claimed otherwise. My point - I'll spell it out once more for the hard of thinking - is that Spain have been making noises about Boris turning the toursim tap off, thus reducing their income (I know the reason behind this is Covid, but the point is that the money from tourism will dry up). My next point was about the EU negotiators and their ability to negotiate on behalf of ALL EU nations. For example, Spain does not rely SOLELY on tourism from the UK - granted, that does help their economy, hence why they aren't happy about the tourism tap being turned off - but they also EXPORT to the UK. You know, the kind of thing that negotiators would want to make sure they get right with things like, I don't know, maybe trade deals? Then the Spanish can continue selling us cars, car parts, fruits, nuts, vegetables, machinery etc etc, ensuring they achieve best value for their economy. https://tradingeconomics.com/spain/exports/united-kingdom To sum it up - for those that do not have an ability to make any sort of 'logic leap' - whilst Spain are not happy about the tourism tap being turned off by Boris (once more, I am fully aware of the reason this is happening, but in this scenario it is purely coincidental and could be caused by any number of other reasons like nuclear disaster, terrorism, flood, famine etc), perhaps the fact that it CAN happen would prompt the Spanish (and potentially other countries in the EU) to 'give the EU negotiators a nudge' to ensure that they are getting the best deal possible for them and not just what Brussels wants. Please do continue to wave your hand when you don't understand simple concepts as I'm always happy to spell them out for our more simple minded members.

No. I was linking a travel ban to Spain and the subsequent loss of trade / income and Brexit negotiations. You're the one who got all melodramatic about Covid and deaths.

Apparently not - unless you've been to mainland Spain! https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2020/07/27/gibraltar-travellers-will-not-be-quarantined-in-uk-provided-they-havent-been-in-spain/ Presumably it's becuase the virus can't negotiate the tricky border between Spain and Gib!

Is the answer, because those are the rules for ABTA members? Not really sure what your argument is. The venues may well be open and operating in Spain (or any other country), but if the FCO is saying do not travel there, then ABTA members have to honour that and refund customers who have bookings but cannot travel because they are told not to! Seems pretty simple to me and a perfectly good answer to why you should get your money back!

To some....

Jesus wept! Did you notice the title of this thread? What were you expecting, a post on the intricacies of cream cake baking?

I'm sure we've got people here who would jump at the chance to do this.... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53568610

One thing's for sure, if you do travel to Spain and catch the virus after the FCO have stated you shouldn't go there, then your insurance will be invalid. Fingers crossed if that happens you don't end up in a Spanish hospital as the bills will rack up pretty quickly!

Because the FCO have stated that you should not travel to those destinations, which will therefore invalidate your insurance. https://www.abta.com/help-and-complaints/frequently-asked-questions/foreign-and-commonwealth-office-advising-against https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain

Have they given you extra computer time today for being a good boy?

It's more a 'Brussels will do what Brussels wants to do' line of argument that doesn't necessarily have the best interests of it's EU members at heart.

My point is that some of the EU relies on us as much as we rely on them. Negotiating a deal is mutually beneficial but potentially more harmful for some of the EU if one is not agreed.

Lots of Spanish people in the last couple of days complaining that Boris has turned the tourism tap off. The amount of noise they're making it almost sounds like they need our money - maybe they should give their negotiators a nudge

It's not a well thought out point is it? There are 12.5% of the American population that are black, but they are commiting more than half of all murders and robberies and nearly a third of all crimes involving rape, burglary, fraud and forgery. Statistically, a smaller percentage of the population are commiting a larger percentage of the crimes. These figures back that up...

Never had a problem with with a sore arse - well up to three hours is fine anyway! My biggest issue has been protecting my dodgy knees. I think / hope I've cracked it now with a spacing of 79cm from the centre of the bottom brcket to the top of the seat. Been set up like that for two weeks now on the summer and winter bikes (winter bike has been in demand throughout July!) and so far so good!

Up until 10th July not one single fine had been issued...

Meh, that just means one less North Korean they will need to feed, doubtless they will 'disappear' soon....

Up to £1k fine I believe... However, they don't seem to be dishing them out very often! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53355552

Cornwall is full! The M5 South now has traffic jams all day on a Friday - used to be bad from about 15:00 but is bumper to bumper from about 11:00am now. Good news for the British tourist spots that missed out over Easter though and good news for the UK economy with people forced to spend their holiday money inside our borders