790 TOURISM LAW IN EUROPE “The traveller shall have the right to terminate the package travel contract before the start of the package without paying any termination fee in the event of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances occurring at the place of destination or its immediate vicinity and significantly affecting the performance of the package, or which significantly affect the carriage of passengers to the destination. In the event of termination of the package travel contract under this paragraph, the traveller shall be entitled to a full refund of any payments made for the package, but shall not be entitled to additional compensation.” We will look at that Regulation in more detail later. We should also bear in mind Article 16 PTD, which requires package organisers to give limited assistance to their consumers who are facing difficulties for any reason – but that provision relates to a mitigation of the problems after they have happened, and not to advice given by Governments in advance of issues arising. Article 23 states that no consumer can waive the rights given to them by the Directive, and any contract term waiving or restricting those rights, directly or indirectly, is void. b) English Common Law As we saw above, Article 12(2), where applicable, allows the consumer to cancel the package travel contract. However, not all law relevant to holiday contracts is to be found in the PTD, for instance, the English Common Law of contracts, which has developed over centuries and is still developing, has taken account, in recent years, of the legal issues arising out of holiday contracts. We will explore this next. 2. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF A HOLIDAY CONTRACT? A SPECIAL CASE? In England, it has been the law, going back into history, that, if one is the victim of a breach of contract of any kind, one cannot, as a matter of public policy, recover any compensation for, among others, disappointment, loss of enjoyment, frustration, inconvenience that one might have suffered. This is basically the law still. For instance, if someone buys a new computer and it does not work, that person will be disappointed, but will not recover any compensation for that at all – only for the cost of replacement or repair of the computer, or a cash refund.
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