A school which cancelled a skiing trip at the start of the pandemic has won a legal battle to get the money refunded from a holiday company.

Staff and youngsters from Brynmawr Foundation School were due to travel to the US in April 2020, but cancelled after the UK and Welsh governments had advised against school trips overseas amid the first wave of Covid cases.

The trial also heard that entry to the US had already been banned by mid-March and Holiday World International Travel Limited had even cancelled the accommodation before the school pulled out of the contract on March 30.

In one of the first such cases to make it to court, the school won a judgement at Cardiff County Court against the company, who had still refused to refund the payment despite the restrictions on entering the US.

With Covid cases exploding worldwide, the school at the time told parents: “It is with an incredible amount of disappointment that, given the announcements by the UK and US governments over the past few days, the planned ski trip cannot go ahead.

“Whilst we understand the situation is far beyond our control, we are devastated for the pupils that were so excited for this trip.”

The school sought a full refund from HWIT, operating as Leisure World Schools, but the business refused to pay up, even counterclaiming for sums it alleged were due for cancellations and excursions.

Lawyers from Clyde & Co acting for the school argued that under package holiday consumer regulations, they were entitled to a full refund within 14 days because of the “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances”.

Despite the US travel ban, the defendant claimed such circumstances only related to the “destination or its immediate vicinity”, and said that because there remained “a flicker of hope” the school had no right to terminate the contract.

The trial heard that “the guidance from the UK and Welsh Governments of March 12-13 2020 imposed a de facto ban on foreign school trips, and that there was no realistic prospect that the so-called “ban” would be lifted in time for the trip to go ahead in April 2020”.

The claimant argued that the Covid outbreak was an “international phenomenon which would inevitably affect any international travel by schools”, following a pandemic declaration by the World Health Organisation on March 11.

Giving judgement for the school, the Judge, Recorder Robert Craven, said the traveller had the choice whether to terminate, and the event of “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” was an “objective fact”.

The reasons for terminating did not matter, provided the “necessary circumstances exist at the time of termination”, he ruled.

After the judgement, a Clyde & Co spokesperson said: “The judge found that the US ban on entry announced on March 14 2020 had (or would have had) a significant effect on performance of the contract… which, in isolation, would have given the school an entitlement to terminate, as did the cancellation of accommodation by the defendant on March 14 2020…

“As long as there were “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity which significantly affected the performance of the package or the carriage of passengers to the destination at the time of termination, it does not matter if there were pre-existing circumstances at the place of departure which also significantly affected the performance of the contract, provided that they both arose out of the same underlying cause (in this case, the Covid-19 pandemic).”