Safety and Financial Security
Ski Philosophy

Safety:- Poor snow is simply unsafe. Trying to ski on slopes where grass and rocks protrude through the snow is dangerous and especially so for inexperienced beginners.

With our carefully selected resorts in Switzerland your students will experience good and safe snow, from December through to mid-April.

All our selected resorts have areas suitable for beginners above 2000m

Enjoyment:- Poor snow destroys the student’s confidence and makes for a woeful experience.

Good snow conditions in our Swiss resorts make it great fun for students and all concerned.

Our British instructors work for us because they enjoy working with our students. They always aim to make their lessons fun. The lessons are of course delivered in English with all the humour that can only come from British instructors.

It’s also no fun being bussed for hours, because of lack of snow in your resort (an all too common experience), to an area where there is snow, only to find the lift queues are horrendous. All the resorts listed below are snow sure, throughout the season, with ski lifts less than 10 minutes by coach or less than a 20 minute walk away.

Learning:- Lack of snow or poor snow inevitably leads to reduced time on skis.

With Ski Gower (unless the weather is too bad to ski at all) the students will always have over 30 hours a week in which to learn to ski.

All resorts have a beginner’s ski area at over 2000m, with the top heights of the resorts ranging from 2662m to 3600m.

The British instructors travel out and back with the group. They do not teach all season long and are thus fresh every time for our students. Their sole objective is to improve our students and they enjoy the thrill of seeing raw beginners learn to ski and those who have skied before improve their skills by the end of each week.

Value for Money:-

Finally, we deliver “VALUE FOR MONEY”. The students and their parents will want to know that their money is well spent. With some holidays by air costing over £1000 and even the cheapest coach trip in the region of £700 the cost for each hour on snow can be very high. If your students can attain more than 30 hours each week on snow, then it will all be worth it! With Ski Gower, 30+ hours a week on snow is not just an aim it is a reality!
 
Financial Security

We are long-standing bonded members of The Association of British Travel Agents (A.B.T.A.) and we have hold a Civil Aviation Authority (C.A.A.) Air Travel Organisers Licence. We are highly trusted by both organisations. Your money will be secure. For further details regarding financial security please refer to the websites of A.B.T.A. and the C.A.A.:

 
Safety Management System

1. GENERAL

The staff of Gower Tours Ltd. Are committed to ensuring that all reasonable measures are taken to ensure the safety of our clients.

The staff of Gower Tours Ltd. Are also committed to promoting safety standards with our suppliers including both UK and foreign transport and accommodation providers.

The General Manager is responsible for the development of our safety policy, but all staff who make foreign visits have been trained by the Warwickshire Fire Brigade and are capable of visiting accommodations for the purposes of their risk assessment.

2. SERVICE PROVIDERS

ACCOMMODATION PROVIDERS

A contract is signed by all accommodations confirming that the accommodation conforms to all local and national fire, safety and hygiene standards.

Gower will also attempt (*) to attain copies of a current fire certificate, current insurance policy and current hygiene certificate.

N.B. Please note that not all foreign regulatory authorities provide accommodations with such documentation

All existing accommodations known to the company are revisited and risk assessed on a tri-annual basis

New accommodations are always risk assessed prior to any group visit

NB. Please see enclosed ‘Sample Risk Assessment’ for UK and foreign accommodations

Any risk assessment that concludes that the risks involved are ‘unreasonable’ will not be used by Gower for their clients

Risk assessments will be made available to all clients and each client will be advised to read them carefully and act on any advice provided by Gower.

 

ACCOMMODATION RISK ASSESSMENTS

Our accommodation risk assessments have been designed to be a working document for party leaders and their school party or group.

 

COACH OPERATORS

Gower Tours hires coaches that are operated by coach companies that have a tradition and experience of operating coach in Europe and who use drivers with Continental driving experience

We expect coach companies to supply our clients with single-decker 49-seater coaches that are less than 5 years old. Should our clients require a double-decker vehicle then we would expect our coach suppliers to supply a vehicle that is less than 10 years old. The exception to these expectations occurs when clients occasionally ask Gower to use coach companies that are outside our current working knowledge.

A contract will be signed by all coach companies confirming that they conform to all local, national and EU Regulations and that all their tour drivers involved with residential stays with young children have been checked by the Criminal Records Bureau.

All UK and foreign coach operators will be asked to provide a copy of their operator’s licence and liability insurance.

In addition operators will be asked to provide details of their maintenance policies and their emergency procedures in the event of a breakdown in Europe.

The Vehicle Inspectorate of the Department for Transport have confirmed to Gower that they perform regular on-road spot checks on coaches that are aimed at detecting operational faults on vehicles. Specifically they have in place a national operation called ‘Operation Tourist’ that targets coaches used by tourists including vehicles at Port or that are on their way to British ports. They also perform random checks of all operators at their coach depots, which cover matters relating to mechanical conditions; use of tachographs; maintenance schedules; driver reporting of coach defect systems and driver and operator licensing checks.

 

SKI TEACHERS IN CONJUNCTION WITH SKI GOWERS’ WINTER SKI COURSES

Our first emphasis at Ski Gower is on the students safety with is paramount.

The highest terrain in Europe is, in general, in Switzerland. Since our inception in 1959 this has provided our students with excellent snow throughout a long season. The good quality snow of the high resorts in Switzerland continues to provide a safe environment in which students can learn to ski and progress their skiing.

The safety and education of students on snow is best served by the ‘experience’ of the teachers i.e. how long have they taught students on snow in a mountainous environment and how often have they taught in our own Swiss resorts.

Thus experience and knowledge is of prime importance. This is enhanced by the fact that they ski with the students all day, which minimises any possibility of losing students and by the fact that all communications are done in colloquial, understandable English which enables students to clearly comprehend all safety and teaching instructions that are given.

The assessment of instructors is carried out by a member of our staff who has a National Governing Body (in the case of skiing B.A.S.I II) qualification. New staff are assessed by that member of staff integrated and into our ski teaching system.

Resort and ski slope risk assessments have been carried out by our senior ski teachers in conjunction with our N.G.B. qualified member of staff. These include identifying the relevant hazards as well as providing all concerned with a slope safety/guidance progression for first week beginners to advanced skiers.

All UK based instructors will be Criminal Records Bureau (C.R.B.) checked. 

AIRLINES, RAIL (INC. SKI LIFTS), FERRY AND EUROTUNNEL, PUBLIC TRANSPORT

All these services are regulated by national bodies and it is not felt that Gower can take any further measures to enhance the national bodies’ safety checks.

3. INSURANCE

Our employer’s liability policy has been renewed by Vantage and has a minimum cover of no less than £5,000,000.

 

4. EMERGENCY PROCEDURES

A 24-hour emergency number is available on an UK mobile phone. In the event of a significant emergency, Gower staff will follow procedures laid down the A.B.T.A.

5. INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS

Reports of all accidents and incidents will be recorded
 
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