A.8 OFFICE EQUIPMENT
Please define what office equipment is available at the location to be accredited.
A9 SET UP FEE
There is an initial non-refundable set up fee which is currently £300 plus VAT.
This fee should be paid before the licence is approved.
SECTION B : MARKETING PLAN
The information you give in this Section will be important in supporting your application.
B.1 BACKGROUND
Enter the date that you began business as a travel agent at the location for which you are applying for an ATOC licence and enter your Gross company turnover for the last five years as annual figures
If you currently acquire rail tickets for your customers show if you get these from a rail station or another agency.
Enter NO to both if you DO NOT currently supply rail tickets to your customers.
Enter the approximate annual value of the rail tickets that you anticipate supplying to your customers based on current demand or the acquisition of a new customer.
In the Section headed Significant Business Developments including future plans, show events such as: Acquisition of new business account worth £2m etc.
B.2 TARGET MARKETS
You have potentially two markets to target: one for business travel and one for leisure. Many of your potential customers may fall into both categories. The total of both Business and Leisure should be shown as a percentage split of your total potential rail business.
B.3 RAIL REVENUE PROJECTIONS (FIRST YEAR OF OPERATION)
As a guide for ATOC you must show that you will produce a significant amount of new rail business to support your application as a sales agent. An annual rail revenue of £50,000 would equate to £2,500 in commission calculated on a base rate commission of 5%.
You then need to indicate how you expect this to grow in the second year of your sales operation.
B 4 MARKETING ACTION PLAN
This section is very important and you may want to produce separate documentation. You may already have prepared a business plan and can simply attach it to your application. You need to indicate what business actions such as Promotional events, advertising in the media, television, joint promotions with tour operators etc. at which you will be able to promote the rail business for which you are now seeking a licence.
ACCOUNTANCY
Travel Agents are required to submit accounts on a 4 weekly basis.
The Agent will receive a Passenger Sales Return (PSR) at the end of each four weekly period and the return must be completed and returned within 10 days to the Travel Trade and Warrant Service in Stevenage.
Payment is by Direct Debit. Your account will be debited by the amount due 19 days after the period end. Further details will be sent to you upon the licence being granted.
PENALTIES
Applying for an ATOC agency should be seen as a mutually viable business activity. You will be entering into a legal contract with ATOC on behalf of the Train Operating Companies. As well as the benefits that this will bring, it is important to remember that any breach of clauses in the legal agreement will incur financial penalties.
If you do not submit your account within 10 days of the end of an accounting period you will be subject to a reduction in commission of 1% per period for up to six periods.
Late payment will incur a penalty of 4.5% above the current bank base rate per day and may be subject to additional administration charges.
PUBLICATIONS
Agents are supplied with Avantix Fares CD-ROM, and an ATOC Rail Directory for Agents as the basic material.
Other items such as product brochures are supplied by the individual train operating companies directly on request.
Requirements for these documents, which are in excess of the initial supply, will be subject to additional charges to the agent.
APPENDICES INDEX
1.0 Train Operating Companies
2.0 Rail Distribution Systems
APPENDIX 1
OPERATORS
1. Northern Rail Limited
2. Arriva Trains Wales/Trenau Arriva Cymru Limited
3. c2c Rail Limited
4. Central Trains Limited
5. CrossCountry Trains Limited
6. First/Keolis TransPennine Limited
7. Gatwick Express Limited
8. London Eastern Railway Limited
9. Great North Eastern Railway Limited
10. Great Western Trains Company Limited
11. Hull Trains Company Limited
12. Island Line Limited
13. Merseyrail Electrics 2002 Limited
14. Midland Main Line Limited
15. First ScotRail Limited
16. Silverlink Train Services Limited
17. South Eastern Trains Limited
18. New Southern Railway Limited
19. South West Trains Limited
20. First Great Western Link Limited
21. Thameslink Rail Limited
22. The Chiltern Railway Company Limited
23. Wales and West Passenger Trains Limited
24. West Anglia Great Northern Railway Limited
25. West Coast Trains Limited
11th January 2005
