FAQs | Travel Trade Crusade

Anyone who works in, or is associated with the travel industry. Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Holiday Attractions, Travel Press, Travel Design or Advertising companies, Travel Industry official bodies, Consortia, Airlines, Airline companies, Representation Companies, Hotel Groups…the list goes on. Anyone who is over the age of 18 (on the first day of the event) with a passport can take part. If not in possession of a driving licence, you obviously need to be in a team with someone who is and someone who is willing to haul your freeloading rear-end wherever you need to go. Only 1 member of the team needs to be in the travel industry so you can bring friends and family to make up your team if that's your preference.

This is entirely up to you. You could take your own flash wheels in the Travel Shrine category – a classic car over 25 years old or supercar costing £75,000 or more, or less flash wheels for the Travel Standard category or a recently purchased rust bucket costing no more than £995
which would be perfect for the Travel Shed Category. You can take your own vehicle but it won’t earn your team any bonus points. We’d recommend that you challenge yourself and buy something rubbish or unique that will earn your team bonus points.
If you want to take a London taxi, a double-decker bus, campervan, retro Fiat 500, Ferrari or Volvo estate you bought for £1 on eBay we commend you!
You can use a team member's own vehicle or buy one especially for the rally. YOU CAN TAKE ANY VEHICLE YOU WANT WITHIN THE CATEGORY GUIDELINES! If you decide to buy a car you can reduce the cost of the vehicle by getting sponsorship of your vehicle. Who knows, with the Travel Industry’s powers of persuasion you may even get a free car from someone! You can even organise events to raise funds for your vehicle. During the rally you may need to have a small contingency fund available for maintenance/repairs and we recommend
comprehensive European Breakdown cover which can be purchased on old vehicles for between £50 and £100 depending on the age of the vehicle. Ideal cover is a policy which will give you a hire car to continue your journey and repatriate your chariot if it can’t be fixed while you are away.

FEES & FUNDRAISING REQUIREMENTS:

Each team needs to pay an entry fee when they sign up.
- 2 motorbikes & 2 team members £305
- One vehicle & team of 2 £305
- One vehicle & team of 3 £370
- One vehicle & team of 4 £435
- One vehicle & team of 5 £500
- One vehicle & team of 6 £565
- Additional passengers £65 per passenger.

Each team then needs to raise some money for a designated charity and commit to raising a minimum of £200 per team member. It can be any charity dear to your team’s heart. We suggest you set up a Justgiving account to raise money for your designated charity. We’ll publish each team’s link on the Travel Trade Crusade website.

FUEL:
Obviously this is dependent upon how far you plan to travel and the type of vehicle. As a rough figure, we recommend you budget for around £325.

VISAS:
You do not need visas to travel to any country in the European Union if you are from an EU country (at the current time of writing, post Brexit in September 2023)

OTHER COSTS TO CONSIDER:
- Accommodation (tent anyone?) We will be telling you where the Travel Trade Crusaders HQ team are staying and where the social meet each day will be. You can then choose a hotel or B&B near to those locations or indeed camp out of town. We tend to choose hotels between £80 - £150 per room per night but it’s up to you if you want to rough it or lord it.
- Food - Budget around £50 per person per day
- Fun - We can’t help you budget for beer but be aware there will be some cost for this.
- Ferries – Budget around £125 return for Dover-Calais. Other routes may be more expensive.
- Flights – If you scrap your car and return without it.

This might seem like a lot; however, if you are smart about this, you can get a lot of other people to cover these costs and actually end up spending very little. You also have many months to save up / put it in the budget to get this done.

As teams complete their challenges they will evidence their escapades through various methods. As this is a competition there are a few rules concerning evidence and submission of evidence. Teams will be asked to submit their evidence before and during the event.

Essentially, teams submit evidence to prove completion of each challenge. Due to the nature of the challenges, most of the evidence will be short video clips and photos, which is why participants are asked to bring a camera.

The team with the most points after the judges have certified entries and awarded bonus points will win the Championship.

Our head judge is Nikki. Nikki runs her own business helping special needs children and has 25 years of experience in the NHS and county council environments. She has been Head Judge on 3 Crusades and her non affiliation with the travel industry ensures her impartiality.
She’s scrupulously fair and takes her judging role very seriously. She’s assisted by her husband Nick who is co-founder and organiser of the Crusade and runs a high level AV business working in the Art industry. He also recently masterminded both the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony and Eurovision.

Yes it does. We will not approve of people driving illegal un-roadworthy cars! We will check and take copies of MOT, Insurance and V5 at the registration process at the start. Also any drivers must have a full UK Driving Licence which enables them to drive the vehicle your team has chosen! So if your vehicle is a bus or lorry or tank you will need to have the relevant category on your licence. All drivers must produce their driving licence at the time of registration and if you don’t have it then you won’t be able to take part as a driver.

We have set up a short term insurance deal for your Travel Shed through Sterling Insurance specifically for the Travel Trade Crusade. Click here and then call them for a quote stating you are taking part in the Travel Trade Crusade. They only provide 3rd party insurance and they won’t cover you if you intend to take your shed on any race circuits. https://www.sterling-insurance.co.uk/banger-rally-car-insurance/
A rough guideline to cost is around £95 for 1 week’s cover. Sarah insured her Hamster car for 3 months, 3 rd party for 4 drivers (3 with clean licences and 1 with 6 points) for £250.

Obviously the price will vary depending on your circumstances but it’s a guideline.
Alternatively you just insure your vehicle as a normal car with European cover but do not under any circumstances tell the insurance company you are on a ‘rally’ as that means something entirely different to insurance companies. You are simply going on a short driving holiday in Europe and no special cover is required as you’re driving a legal vehicle, on legal roads in a legal way.

Your vehicle must comply with European law. You must have a fluorescent high vis jacket for each passenger in the car, accessible from inside the car and warning triangle within your car. A GB sticker must be clearly displayed on your car and you must ensure you have a headlamp converter kit applied to the headlights to avoid dazzling other road users. The The AA has a very comprehensive guide to driving overseas which you can find HERE