Travel Question: If I miss my flight and it wasn’t my fault can I make a claim?

Q My son missed a flight from Heathrow because of a collision on the motorway, the road was subsequently closed and meant the bus he was travelling on was several hours late.

Who bears financial responsibility and what should one do if despite leaving in good time, traffic accidents or inordinate train delays, cause one to miss a flight?

Name withheld

A Legally speaking, there are two possible avenues to consider – neither of which is likely to be very productive.

First, if a driver can be found negligent for causing the accident, you might imagine your son has a claim against his or her insurer. But I have sought expert legal advice on your behalf, and it appears that such a claim is not likely to succeed. The reason is: there was no injury to your son, nor damage to property he owned. That is the test that the courts have set. Even though there was damage to his bank balance, a claim is unlikely to succeed.

Next, could there be a breach of contract claim against the bus company for failing to get him to the airport at the specified arrival time? I have been looking at the terms and conditions of one operator with lots of airport services, National Express. It says: “We recommend you allow at least 180 minutes between the service scheduled arrival time and your flight departure time.”

Your son may well have allowed the recommended three hours. But even though he did, the company warns: “We will not be responsible for such additional costs or losses where caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control.”

Had the driver failed to “provide the service with reasonable skill and care”, for example by getting lost, then a claim under the Consumer Rights Act might have been possible. However, I sense that the driver was in full control, but was unable to get everyone to the airport because of the closure of the motorway.

As one of the lawyers I talked to said: “You would usually expect someone to take out travel insurance to cover this type of loss.” I hope this applies to your son.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder