Terms
of Use

1. Agreement to These Terms

By accessing or using hertsswimcoach.uk (the "website"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. If you do not agree with any part of these terms, please do not use this website.

2. What Herts Swim Coach Is

Herts Swim Coach is an information platform. Its purpose is to provide information about swimming coaching services available in Hertfordshire and surrounding areas, and to connect interested swimmers and athletes with independent coaches.

Herts Swim Coach is not a swimming school, coaching academy, or employer of coaches. For the enquiry and coach-matching side of the service, we do not provide coaching directly, take bookings, process payments, or guarantee the availability of any coaching service listed or described on this website.

There is one exception. Where a clinic, camp or coaching session is booked and paid for directly through this website, Herts Swim Coach is the provider and your contract is with us. Those bookings are governed by section 13, which sets out prices, cancellations, refunds and minimum numbers. Everywhere else on this website, sections 3 and 4 apply.

3. Independent Coaches

Coaches referenced or connected through this website are independent professionals. They set their own prices, availability, qualifications, and terms of service. Any arrangement made between a user and a coach is a private contract between those two parties alone.

Herts Swim Coach is not a party to any coaching agreement. We do not direct, supervise, manage, or take responsibility for the quality, safety, suitability, or conduct of any coach or coaching session.

Before engaging any coach, we strongly encourage you to:

• Verify that the coach holds appropriate swimming coaching qualifications (e.g. Swim England Level 2 or above)
• Confirm they hold current public liability insurance
• Check that they hold a valid, enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) certificate
• Agree clear terms, pricing, and cancellation arrangements directly with the coach before any session takes place

4. Enquiries Are Not Bookings

Submitting an enquiry form on this website does not constitute a booking, reservation, or binding contract for any coaching service. All enquiries are exploratory. Availability, pricing, pool access, and session schedules are subject to change at any time without notice and without liability to Herts Swim Coach.

This section applies to enquiry forms only. A clinic, camp or session that you book and pay for through our checkout is a binding booking — see section 13.

5. Physical Activity and Health

Swimming and swim training involve physical exertion and carry inherent risks. You are solely responsible for assessing your own health and physical fitness before participating in any coaching or training activity.

If you have a medical condition, injury, or any doubt about your fitness to exercise, you should seek advice from a qualified medical professional before commencing any training programme.

Herts Swim Coach makes no representations about the suitability of any coaching programme for any particular individual's health, fitness level, age, or medical condition.

6. No Guarantee of Results

Swimming performance improvement depends on many individual factors — including starting ability, training frequency, physical condition, and the coaching relationship — that are outside our control. We make no guarantee of any specific improvement, outcome, or result from any coaching service found through this website.

7. Accuracy of Information

We aim to keep information on this website accurate and up to date, but we make no warranty that all content is current, complete, or free from error. Pool locations, session availability, pricing, coach availability, and all other details are subject to change. Always confirm specifics directly with the relevant coach or venue before attending.

8. Third-Party Links and Services

This website includes links to and embeds from third-party services including Tally.so (enquiry forms) and Google Maps (location information). These services are operated independently. We have no control over their content, availability, or data practices and are not responsible for them.

The inclusion of any third-party link does not constitute an endorsement of that service.

9. Intellectual Property

All content on this website — including text, images, logos, layout, and design — is owned by or licensed to Herts Swim Coach. You may not reproduce, copy, modify, distribute, or exploit any part of this website in any form without our express written permission.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by the laws of England and Wales:

• Herts Swim Coach is not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, or special loss or damage arising from your use of this website.
• We accept no liability for any loss, injury, or damage suffered during or as a result of any coaching or training activity arranged through or referenced on this website.
• We accept no liability for the acts, omissions, or conduct of any coach connected through this website.
• This website is provided "as is", without any warranty — express or implied — as to its accuracy, availability, or fitness for any particular purpose.

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by our own negligence, or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, as required by English law.

11. Safeguarding

Herts Swim Coach is committed to promoting safe and appropriate sporting environments. We encourage all coaches connected through this platform to comply with Swim England's safeguarding policies and to hold valid DBS checks.

We are not a regulated sporting body. We do not verify, enforce, or warrant the safeguarding compliance of any individual coach. Users working with coaches involving minors should take independent steps to verify DBS status and safeguarding credentials before any coaching takes place.

12. Availability of the Website

We do not guarantee that the website will be available at all times, free from errors, or uninterrupted. We reserve the right to change, suspend, or withdraw the website or any part of it at any time without notice.

13. Clinics, Camps and Sessions Booked on This Website

This section applies where you book and pay for a clinic, camp or coaching session through our checkout. In those cases Herts Swim Coach is the provider and your contract is with us directly. It does not apply to travel coaching engagements, where a coach travels to you — those are covered by section 15, and where the two sections differ, section 15 applies. Nothing in sections 3 or 4 limits our obligations to you under this section.

13.1 Places and prices

• Every clinic and camp has a stated maximum number of places. Places are sold on a first-come, first-served basis and are only secured once payment has been taken.
• The price shown at checkout is per swimmer. A single booking fee of £2.50 applies per checkout, not per swimmer.
• Payment is taken in full at the time of booking, and your place is confirmed immediately.
• Places are held in the name of the swimmer given at booking. You may not transfer a place to a different swimmer without our agreement, which we will not withhold unreasonably.

13.2 If you cancel

• 24 hours or more before the published start time: we refund the place fee in full. The £2.50 booking fee is not refunded.
• Less than 24 hours before the start time: no refund is due.
• No refund is due where a swimmer does not attend, or arrives after the warm-up has begun. Warm-up times are published at booking and repeated in your confirmation email.
• To cancel, reply to your confirmation email or write to [email protected]. Cancellations are processed by us rather than automatically, so please allow us a little time to come back to you — the notice period is measured from when you contact us, not from when we reply. Refunds are returned to the original payment method and typically clear within 5–10 working days.

13.3 Minimum numbers, and if we cancel

• Clinics run subject to a published minimum number of swimmers. Where a clinic has not reached that minimum, we may cancel it at our discretion, and will give you at least 72 hours' notice before the published start time.
• We may also cancel for reasons outside our control, including pool closure, facility failure, coach illness or injury, or where we judge conditions unsafe. In those cases we will tell you as soon as we reasonably can.
• Where we cancel, for any reason, you receive a full refund including the £2.50 booking fee. We are not liable for other costs you may have incurred, such as travel or accommodation.

13.4 Entry requirements

• Clinics are coaching, not swimming lessons. At booking you confirm that the swimmer trains with a swimming club, can dive safely into deep water, and can swim 100 metres of two or more strokes unaided. We rely on that confirmation when planning the session.
• Where a swimmer clearly cannot meet the stated requirements, we may withdraw them from the session on safety grounds. Where the declaration given at booking was inaccurate, no refund is due.
• You must tell us at booking about any medical condition, allergy, injury or additional need relevant to the swimmer's safety. We will do our best to accommodate, but we cannot be responsible for a condition we were not told about.

13.5 On the day

• Swimmers should arrive at the time given in the confirmation email and be changed and poolside before the warm-up begins. Warm-up times are strict.
• Parents, guardians and spectators watch from the spectator gallery. Poolside is restricted to swimmers and coaching staff.
• A parent or guardian of a swimmer under 18 must remain on site for the duration of the session.
• Swimmers are responsible for their own kit and belongings. Herts Swim Coach is not liable for loss of or damage to personal property at the venue.
• All attendees are subject to the venue's own rules and conditions of entry, including its policy on photography and mobile phones.

13.6 Photography and video

We only use photographs or video of a swimmer where consent was given at booking. Consent is optional and makes no difference to the coaching provided. You may withdraw it at any time by emailing us. Photography by other attendees is a matter for the venue's policy and is outside our control.

13.7 Your statutory rights

Nothing in this section affects your statutory rights. These bookings are for leisure activities supplied on a specific date, so the 14-day cancellation right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations does not apply; the cancellation terms above apply instead. If you believe something has gone wrong, contact us first — we would far rather sort it out directly.

14. Video Analysis and Filming

This section applies wherever filming forms part of the coaching — a dedicated video analysis session, or filming used within a one-to-one. It sits alongside section 13.6 and our privacy policy, which cover consent and how footage is stored.

14.1 The video work happens poolside

• The greatest value of filming is in the session itself. We film, then review the clips with you there and then on a phone or tablet, so you can see the fault and correct it in the water the same morning. That immediate poolside review is the service you are paying for.
• A coach films a great deal over a session — multiple strokes, multiple angles, above and below the water. Most of that footage exists to be looked at live, not to be edited and sent.

14.2 What you receive afterwards

• One edited video is included as standard after the session. The coach selects the clip that best shows the priority correction identified in the session.
• That edited video is trimmed, annotated, compressed and shared with you privately — to the email address given at booking, or to a parent or guardian where the swimmer is under 18.
• Raw, unedited footage is not supplied as standard. Where you would like it, ask us and we will consider it case by case.

14.3 Turnaround — allow up to two weeks

• Post-production is done by hand, one video at a time, around coaching commitments. Please allow up to 14 days from the date of the session for your edited video to arrive.
• We are often quicker than that, but two weeks is the normal window rather than a delay, and we ask for your patience within it. If 14 days have passed and you have heard nothing, do email us at [email protected] and we will chase it up.

14.4 Additional videos are charged separately

• Only the one video described in 14.2 is included in the session price. Additional edited videos are not included.
• If you would like more than one, tell us which footage you want and we will agree a price with you before any work begins. Editing each video takes real time, and additional videos are quoted individually and paid for in advance.
• Requests for additional videos can only be met while we still hold the footage from your session. Our retention period is set out in the privacy policy, so please ask sooner rather than later.

14.5 Where filming is not possible

• Filming depends on the venue permitting cameras, on water clarity and lighting, and on the equipment working on the day. All attendees are subject to the venue’s own policy on cameras and mobile phones.
• Where filming cannot go ahead, or the footage captured is unusable, we will tell you and either rebook the video element or refund the part of the fee that related to it. The coaching delivered in the session itself remains chargeable.

15. Travel Coaching Engagements

This section applies where you engage us to travel to a location of your choosing — overseas, or elsewhere in the United Kingdom — to deliver coaching. It sits alongside sections 5, 6 and 11, and takes precedence over section 13 where the two differ.

15.1 Nothing is agreed until it is agreed in writing

• Every engagement begins with a written quote setting out the dates, the number of coaching days and travel days, the coaching fee, and an itemised estimate of the costs you will be covering.
• An engagement is formed only when you accept that quote in writing and the deposit has cleared. Enquiries, calls and provisionally held dates are not bookings (see section 4).
• The quote also records what the venue must provide: pool length (25m or 50m are both suitable), a lane reserved for the agreed sessions, and written permission to film. Where those cannot be confirmed, we will not travel.

15.2 The coaching fee

• The coaching fee is charged as a day rate for each coaching day, and at half that rate for each day spent in transit. Both rates are stated in the quote.
• The minimum engagement is three coaching days.
• A deposit of 50% of the coaching fee is payable on acceptance and secures the dates. The balance is due no later than 14 days before departure. We will not travel with the balance outstanding.
• The coaching fee is separate from, and additional to, the costs in 15.3. It is a fee for coaching, not an all-inclusive package price.

15.3 Travel, accommodation and other costs are yours

• You are responsible for the cost of getting a coach to the location and keeping him able to work there: return flights, accommodation for the full stay, airport and daily transfers, pool or lane hire and any venue access fee, visas and entry permits, any required work permit or local coaching registration, any local vetting required by the venue or a governing body, agreed subsistence, and any excess baggage or shipping for equipment.
• Wherever possible you book and pay for these directly, in your own name. You then hold the bookings, hold the contracts with the airline and the hotel, and deal with them directly if anything changes. We will specify what is required and review the itinerary before you commit to it.
• Where you ask us to book something on your behalf, we do so as your agent, at cost with no mark-up, and only once you have paid us the amount in advance. We are not a travel agent and give no advice on the suitability of any travel arrangement.
• We will not board a flight, or begin an engagement, where accommodation or pool access for the full period has not been confirmed.

15.4 If you cancel or postpone

• The deposit is not refundable once the engagement is formed.
• Cancelling 30 days or more before the first travel day: the deposit is retained and no further coaching fee is due.
• Cancelling fewer than 30 days before the first travel day: 100% of the coaching fee remains due, because by then the coaching days have been held open and other work turned away.
• Separately, and in every case, you remain responsible for all third-party costs already committed — flights, accommodation, pool hire and permits — whether or not they are recoverable. Because those are booked in your name, recovering them is a matter between you and the supplier or your insurer. We will provide any documentation you need, but we cannot recover them for you.
• Where you ask to move the dates rather than cancel, we will make every reasonable effort to accommodate it, and will transfer the deposit to the new dates once. Whether the third-party bookings can be moved is a matter for those suppliers.

15.5 If we cancel

• We may have to cancel or curtail for reasons including illness or injury, a family emergency, refusal of entry, a change in UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advice for the destination, or where we judge conditions unsafe.
• Where we cancel, the entire coaching fee is refunded, including the deposit. Where an engagement is curtailed part-way, the fee is refunded pro rata for the coaching days not delivered.
• We are not liable for the third-party costs you have incurred. Those are the losses your travel insurance exists to cover, and holding that insurance is a condition of the engagement under 15.6.
• Where we cancel fewer than 14 days before departure for a reason within our control, we will in addition contribute towards your unrecoverable third-party costs up to the value of the deposit. That contribution is a fixed cap, not an indemnity.
• We will always offer to rebook in preference to cancelling.

15.6 Insurance

• You must hold travel insurance covering cancellation, curtailment and medical costs for your own commitments, and confirm that you hold it before the deposit is accepted.
• We hold our own travel insurance and public liability cover for the coaching we deliver. Neither policy insures the other party’s losses, and neither is a substitute for the other.

15.7 Visas, entry and the right to work

• You are responsible for establishing what a visiting UK coach requires in order to enter the destination lawfully and to deliver paid coaching there, and for the cost of obtaining it. We will supply promptly whatever documentation the process requires.
• Where a visa, permit or registration is refused, or is not granted in time, through no fault of either party, the engagement is cancelled and we will refund 50% of the coaching fee already paid — the cost of the lost dates is shared between us.
• Where entry or a permit is refused for reasons personal to the coach, the engagement is treated as cancelled by us under 15.5.
• Where a refusal follows from information you provided that turns out to be wrong or incomplete, 15.4 applies.

15.8 Safeguarding outside England and Wales

• Our coaches hold an enhanced DBS check, renewed regularly. A DBS certificate is a United Kingdom document. It has no legal standing in another jurisdiction, and we do not present it as clearance to work with children anywhere else.
• Where the destination, the venue or a local governing body requires its own vetting, background check or registration, you arrange and pay for it, and we will co-operate fully and promptly with whatever it involves.
• Where a swimmer is under 18, a parent, guardian or a responsible adult nominated by you in writing must be present poolside for the whole of every session. This is not waivable. We will not deliver a session to an unaccompanied minor outside England and Wales, and where no such adult is present the session is treated as delivered and remains chargeable.
• We work to Swim England’s safeguarding standards as a minimum, and to the venue’s own policies where those are stricter. Section 11 applies in full.

15.9 Working conditions and what is delivered

• A coaching day means up to five hours poolside, across no more than two sessions, at times agreed in the quote. Additional hours are chargeable and agreed in advance.
• Where an engagement runs beyond six consecutive coaching days, one rest day in seven is scheduled and is not charged.
• Where the pool, the lane availability, the accommodation or the schedule differs materially from what was agreed in the quote, we will work with you to find a solution. Where no workable solution exists we may decline to deliver the affected sessions, and the fee for those sessions remains payable.
• Section 6 applies: coaching improves technique and preparation, and no particular time, qualification or result is guaranteed.

15.10 Governing law

• Regardless of where the coaching is delivered, this section and the engagement are governed by the law of England and Wales, and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. Section 16 applies.

16. Governing Law

These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising from these terms or your use of the website shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

17. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms at any time. Changes will be posted on this page with a revised "last updated" date. Your continued use of the website after any change constitutes your acceptance of the updated terms.