These Terms and Conditions were effective from 24 May 2018 to 16 March 2022. The current Terms and Conditions can be found here.
TERMS OF USE
ABOUT THE OUTDOOR SWIMMING SOCIETY
The Outdoor Swimming Society (OSS) is a not for profit that does not charge membership fees. It operates on a social enterprise model, generating revenue for its public purposes through license holder agreements in events and merchandise.
This section of the site contains terms of use for
- General Terms & Conditions (website & newsletters)
- Events Terms & Conditions (read before registration)
- Terms relating to the sale of Merchandise
- The Wild swim map, which the OSS is a supporter of
It is your responsibility to read these terms and conditions before use or registration on this and connected site.
SWIM RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT
The Outdoor Swimming Society is not able to assume legal responsibility to its members or others. While we are always keen to share our passion for outdoor swimming, all swimmers must be solely responsible for making their own assessment as to the risks involved in any particular swim.
The Outdoor Swimming Society itself has no control or influence over those who arrange “Outdoor Swimming Society social swims”, or the locations written about or featured in newsletters, the website or on wildswim.com which we support. The decision to participate in any swim must therefore be taken individually, and swimmers must not rely (in whole or in part) on views or information provided by the Outdoor Swimming Society and/or its members. If you are in any doubt about the safety of a swim or your ability to complete it, you should not take part.
Swimming outdoors heightens the risk of serious injury or harm. The risks of outdoor swimming include (but are not limited to) hypothermia, drowning, sickness from polluted water, injury from wildlife, other swimmers or debris in the water. The ‘safety’ of locations varies with the weather, the abilities and knowledge of the swimmer and over time – rainfall can dramatically change the safety profile of a swim spot. More information on understanding water is available in the ‘Survive’ section of this website.
To the maximum extent permitted by law:
- The Outdoor Swimming Society;
- each individual acting on behalf of the Outdoor Swimming Society; and
- any person involved in organising an Outdoor Swimming Society social swim,
exclude any liability for personal injury, death or other harm or loss to its members or any other person or organisation as a result of their negligence or other breach of legal duty.
GENERAL TERMS & CONDITIONS
The Outdoor Swimming Society is a not for profit. These Terms and Conditions govern your use of The Outdoor Swimming Society Limited website (the “Site”) and your relationship with The Outdoor Swimming Society Limited (the “Company”, “we” or “us”). Please read them carefully as they affect your rights and liabilities under the law. If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, please do not register for or use the Site.
1. Use of the Site
1.1 The Site is provided to you for your personal use subject to these Terms and Conditions. By using the Site you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. References to these Terms and Conditions include the Sale of Goods Terms.
2. Amendments
2.1 We may update these Terms and Conditions from time to time for legal or regulatory reasons or to allow the proper operation of the Site. Any changes will be notified to you via the e-mail address provided by you on registration or via a suitable announcement on the Site. The changes will apply to the use of the Company Site after we have given notice. If you do not wish to accept the new Terms and Conditions you should not continue to use the Site. If you continue to use the Site after the date on which the change comes into effect, your use of the Site indicates your agreement to be bound by the new Terms and Conditions.
3. Registration
3.1 To register on the Site you must be over eighteen years of age. If you are under the age of 18 you must have the consent of your legal guardian.
3.2 You must ensure that the details provided by you on registration or at any time are correct and complete.
3.3 You must inform us immediately of any changes to the information that you provided when registering by updating your personal details in order that we can communicate with you effectively.
3.4 By registering on the Site you expressly confirm that you have read and understood the terms of the OSS Swim Responsibility Statement and agree to its terms. A copy of the OSS Swim Responsibility Statement is located above and repeated here. Please note that the terms of the OSS Swim Responsibility Statement include exclusions / limitations of liability and therefore need to be read carefully.
3.5 By registering on the Site you expressly confirm that you take full responsibility for your own decisions to participate in outdoor swimming at any location, and that we do not assume any legal responsibility to you in relation to the information provided to you by us or by anyone acting (or purporting to act) on our behalf. You must conduct your own risk assessment prior to participating in outdoor swimming.
4 Password and security
4.1 There are two areas in which you may register for this site, for newsletters via Mailchimp and in the shop to buy event tickets and merchandise. In both cases, when you register for to use the Site you will be asked to create a password. In order to prevent fraud, you must keep this password confidential and must not disclose it or share it with anyone. If you know or suspect that someone else knows your password you should change it immediately, by logging on to your profile. If you forget your password or username, prompts are available.
4.2 If we have reason to believe that there is likely to be a breach of security or misuse of the Site, we may require you to change your password or we may suspend your account.
5 Intellectual property
5.1 The content of the Site is protected by copyright, trade marks, database right and other intellectual property rights. You may retrieve and display the content of the Site on a computer screen, store such content in electronic form on disk (but not any server or other storage device connected to a network) or print one copy of such content for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided you keep intact all and any copyright and proprietary notices. You may not otherwise reproduce, modify, copy or distribute or use for commercial purposes any of the materials or content on the Site without written permission from us or the relevant copyright owner.
6 Your use of the Site
6.1 You may not use the Site for any of the following purposes:
- disseminating any unlawful, harassing, libellous, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material or otherwise breaching any laws;
- transmitting material that encourages conduct that constitutes a criminal offence, results in civil liability or otherwise breaches any applicable laws, regulations or code of practice;
- interfering with any other person’s use or enjoyment of the Site; or
- making, transmitting or storing electronic copies of materials protected by copyright without the permission of the owner.
6.2 You will be responsible for our losses and costs resulting from your breach of this clause 6.
7 Availability of the Site
7.1 Although we aim to allow you the best possible access to the site, we make no promise that the services at the Site will meet your requirements. We cannot guarantee that the service will be fault-free. If a fault occurs in the service you should report it via the OSS Facebook group or OSS Facebook page and we will attempt to correct the fault as soon as we reasonably can.
7.2 Your access to the Site may be occasionally restricted to allow for repairs, maintenance or the introduction of new facilities or services. We will attempt to restore the service as soon as we reasonably can.
8 The Company’s right to suspend or cancel your registration
8.1 We may suspend or cancel your registration immediately at our reasonable discretion or if you breach any of your obligations under these Terms and Conditions.
8.2 You can cancel your registration at any time by logging on to your profile and un-clicking ‘send me newsletter’. If you do so, you must stop using the Site.
8.3 The suspension or cancellation of your registration and your right to use the Site shall not affect either party’s statutory rights or liabilities.
9 The Company’s liability
9.1 The Site provides content from other Internet sites or resources and we try to ensure that material included on the Site is correct, reputable and of high quality, it does not make any warranties or guarantees in relation to that content. If we are informed of any inaccuracies in the material on the Site we will attempt to correct the inaccuracies as soon as we reasonably can.
9.2 If we are in breach of these Terms & Conditions, we will only be responsible for any losses that you suffer as a result to the extent that they are a foreseeable consequence to both of us at the time you make the relevant order. Our liability shall not in any event include business losses such as lost data, lost profits or business interruption.
9.3 This clause 9 shall not limit or affect our liability resulting from any products sold through the Site being found to be unsafe or unsatisfactory or if something we do in relation to those products negligently causes death or personal injury.
10 Third Party Websites
10.1 As a convenience to customers, the Site includes links to other web sites or material which are beyond its control. We are not responsible for content on any site outside the Site.
11 Advertising and Sponsorship
Part of the Site may contain advertising and sponsorship. Advertisers and sponsors are responsible for ensuring that material submitted for inclusion on the Site complies with relevant laws and codes. We will not be responsible to you for any error or inaccuracy in advertising and sponsorship material.
12 Applicable Law
These terms and conditions will be subject to the laws of England and Wales. We will try to solve any disagreements quickly and efficiently. If you are not happy with the way we deal with any disagreement and you want to take court proceedings, you must do so within England.
13 International Use
We make no promise that materials on the Site are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United Kingdom, and accessing the Site from territories where its contents are illegal or unlawful is prohibited. If you choose to access this site from locations outside the United Kingdom, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.
14 Miscellaneous
You may not transfer any of your rights under these Terms and Conditions to any other person. We may transfer our rights under these Terms and Conditions to another business where we reasonably believe your rights will not be affected.
If you breach these Terms and Conditions and the Company chooses to ignore this, we will still be entitled to use our rights and remedies at a later date or in any other situation where you breach the Terms and Conditions.
We shall not be responsible for any breach of these Terms and Conditions caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control.
The Site is owned and operated by the not for profit, The Outdoor Swimming Society Limited, our registered office is Blencathra, Bakers Lane, Chilcompton, Somerset BA3 4EW. Company Registration No. 5847138.
EVENT TERMS & CONDITIONS
1. DEFINITIONS & INTERPRETATIONS
“Event” means an entertainment event in respect of which we have the right to sell you tickets
“Tickets” means tickets or other types of evidence (including electronic registration) for an Event sold by Us to You on behalf of the organisation responsible for the Event or a ticket selling website for the right to attend the Event.
“Venue” means any facilities or locations of any nature where the Event is being held.
“We” means the Outdoor Swimming Society or any of associated agents. “Us” and “Our” shall be read accordingly.
“You” means you or anybody who in Our reasonable opinion is acting with your authority or permission. “Your” shall be read accordingly.
2. REGISTRATION
2.1 To register for OSS events you must be over sixteen years of age, unless otherwise stated. If you are under the age of 18 your legal guardian must attend with you in person to provide their written consent.
2.2 You must ensure that the details provided by you on registration or at any time are correct and complete.
2.3 You must inform us immediately of any changes to the information that you provided when registering by updating your personal details in order that we can communicate with you effectively.
2.4 By registering on the Site you expressly confirm that you take full responsibility for your own decisions to participate in outdoor swimming at any location, and that we do not assume any legal responsibility to you in relation to the information provided to you by us or by anyone acting (or purporting to act) on our behalf.
2.5 By registering for events you declare that you will abide by the rules of the event and you agree to the event specific disclaimer. In broad terms, this is an agreement that you shall be, at the date of the event, fit to swim and that the details given in the forms you complete are correct in all particulars. It is also an acceptance that, to the extent permitted by law, the organisers and sponsors shall have no liability to you for any injury, loss or damage, nor any consequential loss or damage suffered by you at or by reason of the event. It means certifying that you are aware that swimming in untreated water can lead to stomach upsets and diseases, such as salmonella and Weils disease, and that you understand you swim entirely at my own risk. All participants must sign a disclaimer before the Event.
3. TICKETS
All Tickets are sold subject to availability and to these Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions should be read carefully prior to purchase and any queries relating to them should be raised with us prior to purchase, as purchase of Tickets constitutes acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
A valid Ticket must be held to get into an event. In the case of OSS events “Tickets” are via electronic registration only. Your name will be held by us, and you will gain access to the event on the day. Proof of identity may be required. A signed swimmer disclaimer may be required before we release your tickets to you. (Your electronic registration will be acknowledged immediately via an automatic email, and event-related emails will be sent to you prior to the event).
It is your responsibility to check your Tickets as if you have made a mistake it cannot always be rectified after purchase. Please check your Tickets on receipt carefully and contact us immediately if there is a mistake.
4. PRICE & PAYMENT
The price of the Ticket shall be the price set at the time We accept your order. All prices set are inclusive of any applicable taxes.
No order will be accepted until We have received full payment and all required information from you.
5. CHANGES TO EVENT
The organiser of the event and/or the Venue reserves the right to make Alterations to the published event programme where reasonably necessary.
6. REFUNDS/ EXCHANGES
Tickets are sold for the use by the original purchaser only and cannot be exchanged, deferred or refunded after purchase in any circumstances after the statutory 14 day cooling-off period.
6.1 IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE EVENT
Tickets cannot be refunded after purchase in any circumstances. We recommend you consider taking out insurance to cover any costs you incur if you are not able to attend the event.
Please check the conditions of your policy carefully to make sure it provides the cover you require.
6.2 IF WE HAVE TO CANCEL THE EVENT
Where an Event is cancelled or curtailed at short notice because of weather, flood, theft of essential equipment, act of god, war, insurrection, riot, civil disturbances, acts of terrorism, fire, explosion, malicious damage, strike, lock out, third party injunction, national defence requirements, acts or regulations of national or local governments, or other factors outside of our reasonable control, We shall not be liable to make any refund or pay any compensation.
In the Event of cancellation of any event prior to it’s taking place, for any other reason, the maximum possible refund will be made to ticket holders, less any unrecoverable expenses. We shall not be liable to pay any compensation.
We recommend you consider taking out suitable insurance to protect yourself against such eventualities, covering your entry and any expenses you will have incurred. Please check the conditions of your policy carefully to make sure it covers this scenario.
These Terms and Conditions do not and shall not affect your statutory rights as a consumer. For further information about your statutory rights contact Citizens advice, Consumer direct (http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/) or the department for business innovation and skills.
7. LIABILITY
Personal arrangements including travel, accommodation or hospitality relating to the event which have been arranged by you are at your own risk. Liability for the cancellation or rescheduling of an Event, or for material changes to an Event, will be limited to any refund as set forth in section 6.
Neither We nor the Venue will be responsible for any loss, theft or damage of your personal belongings. Please note there are no secure holdings for belongings at any Event, so anything brought to events it at your own risk. You are cautioned against bringing items of value.
Liability for your personal risk is laid out in 2.5.
8. CANCELLED/ RESCHEDULED EVENTS
It is your responsibility to ascertain whether an Event has been cancelled or rescheduled and the date and time of any rescheduled Event. Where an Event is cancelled or rescheduled, We will use our reasonable endeavours to notify you using the details you provided us with at the time of ordering. We do not guarantee that you will be informed of such cancellation before the date of the event.
As laid out in Section 2 it is your responsibility to inform us of any change to the contact address, telephone number or email address you provide us with at the time of ordering.
9. USE OF DETAILS & DATA PROTECTION
Please see general site terms.
10. RESALE/ USE OF TICKETS
You may not re-sell or transfer your Ticket except through Us using the ticket transfer option. Other re-sales and transfers of Tickets are prohibited for OSS events: only the known registered ticket holders can attend the events.
11. VOID TICKETS
Any Ticket obtained in breach of these Terms and Conditions shall be void and all rights conferred or evidenced by such Ticket shall be void. Any person seeking to use such a void Ticket in order to gain or provide entry to an event may be considered to be a trespasser and may be liable to be ejected and liable to legal action. Void Tickets are non-refundable.
12. RESTRICTIONS ON THE PURCHASE OF TICKETS
Tickets may be restricted to a maximum number. Any such restriction shall be notified to you at the time you book the Tickets.
13. CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION
The management of the Venue reserves the right to refuse Ticket holders admission to the Venue in reasonable circumstances including for health and safety, licensing reasons or where a Ticket is void.
The management of the Venue also reserves the right to request that Ticket holders leave the Venue at any point on reasonable grounds and may take any appropriate action to enforce this right. By way of example, the Venue may remove a Ticket holder who:
- has behaved in the Venue in a manner which, in the reasonable opinion of the Venue has, or is likely to affect the enjoyment of other visitors; or
- uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or in any way provokes or behaves in a manner which may provoke a breach of the peace; or
- in the reasonable opinion of the Venue is acting under the influence of alcohol or drugs; or
- fails, when required, to produce proof of identity or age.
You must comply with instructions and directions given by Venue staff and stewards. No refunds will be given to Ticket holders who are refused entry or ejected due to their own behaviour as suggested in, but not limited to, the examples above.
15. RESTRICTIONS & PROHIBITIONS
By attending an Event, Ticket holders consent to filming and sound recording of themselves as members of the event. We may use such films and recordings (including any copies) without payment.
Ticket holders shall not bring into the Venue or display or distribute (whether for free or not) at the event any sponsorship, promotional or marketing materials.
Smoking is not permitted unless within a designated smoking area (if any).
16. HEALTH & SAFETY
Ticket holders must comply with all relevant statutes, safety announcements and Venue regulations whilst attending the event.
Ticket holders are required to read all safety event information sent to them prior to the event.
17. FORCE MAJEURE
For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions, “Force majeure” means any cause beyond our control including, without limitation, weather, flood, theft of essential equipment, act of god, war, insurrection, riot, civil disturbances, acts of terrorism, fire, explosion, malicious damage, strike, lock out, third party injunction, national defence requirements, acts or regulations of national or local governments. We will not be liable to you for failure to perform any obligation under these Terms and Conditions to the extent that the failure is caused by Force majeure.
18. AMENDMENTS & VARIATIONS
We intend to rely on the written terms set out here in this document as well as the written terms and conditions of the Venue. You should read the terms and conditions carefully before entering into the contract to ensure that they contain everything that you consider has been agreed. If they do not then you should contact the event manager or use your 14 day cooling off period. After the contract has been made, these Terms and Conditions cannot be varied or amended in any respect unless both you and We agree and it is preferable that this is in writing.
TERMS RELATING TO THE SALE OF MERCHANDISE
PRICES
Your order is an offer to buy from us. There will be no contract of any kind between you and us unless and until we actually dispatch the goods to you. At any point up until then, we may decline to supply the goods to you without giving any reason. At the moment that the goods are dispatched, a contract will be made between you and us.
The prices payable for the items that you order are clearly set out on the Site. If, by mistake, we have under-priced an item, we will not be liable to supply that item to you at the stated price provided that we notify you before we dispatch the item concerned.
All prices are expressed inclusive of any VAT payable unless otherwise stated.
AVAILABILITY
If for any reason beyond our reasonable control, we are unable to supply a particular item, we will not be liable to you except to ensure that you are not charged for that item. Please note that we may attempt to deliver substitute lines should selected lines be unavailable unless you request us not to do so.
We sometimes sell made-to-order items direct from this site. These terms relate to items supplied to you through the Company Site and should be read in conjunction with the General Terms & Conditions which shall also apply.
DELIVERY – IN STOCK ITEMS
Delivery will be made to the address specified by you on the completed order form.
We will deliver your order to the main entrance of the delivery address.
Most UK orders are fulfilled within five days of receipt for In Stock items. We deliver worldwide, the relevant postage will be added at the checkout. Delivery will take longer for these items. Whilst we make every effort to deliver all your goods in the agreed time, we will not be liable if we fail to do so in part or in full due to circumstances beyond our control.
EVENT MERCHANDISE PRE ORDERS
Event merchandise will be available for pre-order before and after the event and is all made-to-order. There may be a considerable wait for these items. Event merchandise ordered before the event (subject to a cut off date) will be available for collection at the event itself. After said cut off date, event merchandise orders will be delivered through the post at a later date. The dates will be supplied on the item information when ordering.
RETURNS OF NON-PERISHABLE ITEMS
We hope you will be happy with your purchase. However, should you feel it necessary to return a non-perishable item, you may cancel the contract for the purchase by contacting shop@outdoorswimmingsociety.com within seven working days of delivery of the items to you. You should then return the relevant item to us in secure packaging.
Made-to-order event merchandise is non-returnable.
You will be responsible for the cost of returning any item to us unless the item is defective or we have delivered the item to you in error or as a substitute. The item should be returned to us in its original condition. If we do not receive the item back from you we may arrange for collection of the item from you at your cost.
When we receive notice of cancellation of your contract for any item, we will refund the price paid by you for that item or at your request if the item is defective will repair the item or supply you with a replacement item. We will not refund the delivery charge for sending the item to you unless you are returning an entire order and the order is defective.
NO COMMERCIAL USE
The online store is available for non-commercial and domestic use only. The Company reserves the right to refuse orders from businesses or that we consider are for commercial or other non-domestic concerns.
WILD SWIM MAP
The Wild Swim map is covered by it’s own set of Terms & Conditions.