Club Director Marian Mihail responded last week to supporters' questions about refunds for tickets purchased for currently postponed games as follows:

"The tickets purchased for games yet to be played in the 2019/20 season can be split into two groups – matchday tickets and season tickets.

For the matchday ticket holders, requests for refunds will be processed when the club’s ticket office re-opens following the end of the current lockdown. Following the re-opening of the ticket office all matchday ticket holders will be sent an email advising them of how to claim a refund should they wish to.

For season ticket holders, we will be in touch with them once a decision is made about the conclusion of the season. We appreciate the fans’ support and patience on this topic during these difficult times."

Marian Mihail's answer follows an announcement made by the club in mid March which advised that:

"Supporters who have purchased a match ticket and are unable to attend the rearranged date will be eligible for a refund. Please note any refunds must be claimed no later than seven days after the announcement of the new date. Match ticket refunds will begin to be processed once the rearranged dates have been confirmed. The club will email ticket purchasers once the rearranged dates have been confirmed"

(After initial lobbying from CAST, the club have agreed that they will no longer be insisting that supporters MUST claim their refund within seven days)

Our interpretation of Marian Mihail's answer is that the trigger for processing refunds will be the end of the current lockdown rather than the finalising of rearranged dates or the cancellation of matches. With the recent announcement of a gradual relaxation of lockdown this might be good news for fans if they could be confident that sufficient ticket office staff will soon be returning to work. Our understanding is that this is not currently on the cards.

In terms of season tickets we appreciate that nothing can be done until a decision is made about the conclusion of the season. We would hope that, once that decision is made, there will be a common approach across all clubs with leadership from the EFL.

In terms of match day tickets the club is currently holding supporter cash for the games at Hull and Cardiff and for the home game v QPR. These games are currently categorised as postponed.

We can say with some certainty that these games will either not be played at all or, if they are, it will not be in front of spectators. The games were originally scheduled for March so fans have been out of pocket now for over two months. We would argue therefore that the club should treat the processing of refunds as a priority. We note that Norwich City have announced that they are planning to issue all match day refunds (to an estimated 36,000 supporters) by the end of May.

CAST are sympathetic to the operational difficulties that the club, like all businesses, face at present. In ordinary times we imagine many Charlton fans might be relatively relaxed about a delay of several weeks while the club retains their money and we are informed that the ticket office has so far received few enquiries about refunds. However, these are not ordinary times. Although owner Tahnoon Nimer has promised to inject funds when it is necessary there is considerable anxiety at present about the future solvency of the club. Supporters may wonder whether this money is being ring-fenced or whether it is being used to cover more urgent bills. Fans looking for ticket refunds will not be at the front of the queue of creditors if the worst comes to the worst.

People who bought their tickets by credit card and the total cost of the tickets was over £100 might be confident that, in the event of a refund not being forthcoming from Charlton, they can turn to their card company under section 75 of the consumer credit act:

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/section-75-of-the-consumer-credit-act

However, some experts have argued that, for the away games, the card company might argue that Charlton Athletic were not the retailer, but merely the agent for Hull City and Cardiff and refuse to pay out on those grounds.

Our advice is that you should initiate the process now by emailing tickets@cafc.co.uk to enquire about timescales and to request a refund form.

Please keep CAST informed of your progress at secretary@castrust.org