The following Conditions of Booking form the basis of your contract with KTS (Kent) Ltd. In these Conditions of Booking “you” and “your” means the first named person on the Booking Form. “We”, “us” and “our” means KTS (Kent) Ltd.
Bookings for course places are accepted subject to the following conditions. Your contract will be with KTS (Kent) Ltd. The contract for the course booking comes into force on the date that we receive this form signed by you.
A deposit of 10% of the total invoice cost must be received in order for us to confirm your place on a course. A VAT receipt will be sent following all payments which will include a Statement of your Account. For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions, this Receipt will act as your confirmation of booking. The balance shown on the invoice must be received by this company not less than 28 days prior to the course start date. If we do not receive all payments due in full and on time, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled by you. In this case the cancellation charges set out below will be payable by you. If you are not due to receive the balance of the funding until the course is about to start, please contact us to confirm that revised payment terms are acceptable. In this situation we will require written confirmation from yourself or your Resettlement Centre (MOD applicable) that the balance payment will be made on the first day of the course.
Should you need to cancel your place on the course once it has been confirmed, you must immediately advise us in writing. Your notice of cancellation will only be effective when we receive it in writing at our offices. We therefore recommend that this be sent by recorded delivery. As we incur costs for course materials from the time we confirm your booking and may be unable to resell your place, the following cancellation charges will be payable. Where the cancellation charge is shown as a percentage, this is calculated on the basis of the total cost payable by the person cancelling.
| Cancellation Charges | Amount |
| More than 28 days before start of Course | Deposit |
| 14-28 days | 60% |
| 1-14 days | 100% |
It is not usually possible to make refunds for cancellations on or after the start date of the course. Where a cancellation is made, we will make every effort to resell all or part of the course and we will credit your account with any income received. All refunds will be at the discretion of the Company and each case will be looked at individually.
The NPTC tests for the felling and climbing units are undertaken by an independent assessor. The cost of these assessments is fully covered by your course fees. We arrange the assessments for the felling units within a few days of the end of the felling course. However, we do not usually arrange the climbing assessments straight after the climbing course for the following reasons:
Passing the felling units is a pre-condition of taking the CS39 assessment, so if a candidate did not pass CS30 or CS31, they would have booked and paid for a test they couldn’t take. After 5 continuous days of climbing a significant number of candidates are sufficiently tired that their performance on a test would be significantly impaired. Climbing is a skill which it can take some time to become proficient at, and consequently a candidate who takes the time to practice and hone his skills is much more likely to pass. Because the assessment involves undertaking 2 simulated rescues, speed of movement in the tree is important.
We recommend candidates get a job in the industry and climb for a few months (which is perfectly legal as long as they are with a qualified climber), and then book their assessment. NPTC is a national organisation, and the climber can then either take the exam locally, or come back to us and take it here in Kent. If we have sufficient numbers we can often arrange a 1 day refresher on the previous day. Either way, we will pay for the assessment. However, if a candidate has a specific reason for taking the assessment at, or soon after, the end of the course, (for example because they are going abroad) it is not usually a problem to arrange this.