How to grab a school uniform bargain!
Flight delay rules, £6.50 school uniforms, left over euros/dollars and passport renewals. Our Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has his 'back from holiday' special Deals of the Week.
Remember, deals can change quickly, even while I’m on the programme. So always double-check the terms and conditions before spending. Plus, while I hope these deals will save you cash, don’t spend if you can’t afford it, don’t need it, or won’t use it.
Returned from your holiday with a delayed flight?
EU regulation 261/2004 means you may be due fixed compensation of up to £510/person. In fact even if it was delayed as far back as 2010 you can still put in a claim. For full help on how to claim see Martin’s free ‘Flight delay compensation and tool’ guide. I’m swamped with successes from people like Claire who emailed me, “It was amazingly easy and within a month I had £1,415 from British Airways in my bank account”.
Here’s the core need to knows. To be entitled you must have…
Arrived over 3 hours late. The clock stops when the doors open not when the plane touches down.
Departed from an EU airport, or arrived into an EU airport as long as it’s an EU airline.
The delay was the airline’s fault, so strikes or bad weather doesn’t count, but most other things including technical problems do.
The amount of compensation is fixed depending on delay length and distance, usually between £200 and £500 per person.
If this is you then put in a claim in with the airline. There’s no need to pay a claims firm to do it – you can do it yourself. If they try to fob you off with vouchers, go back to them and ask for cash – you’re entitled to it. If you get rejected, that isn’t the end of it. You can go to one of the four new adjudicators via the ADR scheme (alternative dispute resolution) but only if the airline has signed up to one – the airline will tell you if it has. If it isn’t you must go to the CAA.
School uniform bargains
There’s not long left now until the kids go back to school and if you’ve still got to get their uniform a couple of supermarkets have the full generic uniform from £6.50. This is decent value if your child’s school allows generic uniforms – these are plain coloured clothes with no unique school badges on it – in fact in polls I’ve done before around 80% of primary school children could wear all, or part generic/supermarket uniforms - in senior school, this figure’s around 40%.
Morrisons £6.50 girl, £7.50 boy: Comprising of two polo shirts, sweatshirt, skirt, two shorts, summer dress and two trousers .
Asda £6.50 girl, £7.50 boy: Comprising of two polo shirts, sweatshirt, skirt, shorts, summer dress and trousers.
Tesco £7.50 girl, £8.50 boy: Comprising of two polo shirts, sweatshirt, skirt, shorts, summer dress and trousers.
Matalan £11 girl, £10 boy: Comprising of two polo shirts, sweatshirt, skirt, shorts, summer dress and trousers.
Martin’s quickies:
Got euros, dollars or even dongs left over? Instead of changing holiday money back – which tends to be expensive as bureaux take a wodge of commission on top of giving poor rates (though do check your receipt when you bought it to see if you had a 'buyback guarantee' rate which means you can sell it back at a better pre-agreed rate) – if you’ve only a small amount leftover and you're likely to use them again (euros especially), just keep them for next time. Or ask friends and family if they want them. If they do check the spot rate (the perfect rate that day) and let them buy off you for that – you'll get more pounds and they get more currency than if they go to a bureaux – so a win-win.
Check if your passport is due to expire: Many people leave this until they’re about to go on holiday. That’s a nightmare as it can take time and be a hassle to do. The best time do it is when you’ve just got back. The most important thing to know is any time left, up to a max of nine months, is added to the new one. It’s worth noting too some countries require you to have at least six months left on it, or you could be refused entry. The only place you should renew it is the official Gov.uk website – every other site will by shyster, charging you way more than need be. The official price to renew is £72.50 for an adult standard service (will cost more for quicker processing) or £46 for a child.
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