CHaOS will pay for personal travel expenses incurred in volunteering for the Summer Roadshow and other events away from Cambridge when they are within the guidelines below, which are designed to minimise the costs to CHaOS as far as practicable.

In order to claim your expenses, you must submit the ticket to the CHaOS treasurer. If the claim falls outside these guidelines but has been agreed with the event co-ordinator or the treasurer, please attach a note explaining the circumstances.

1. Train Travel

• Please use advance fares where possible. If this is not possible (for instance on lines where these fares are not available, or if extra flexibility in departure times is necessary) then please use an off-peak fare. CHaOS will not pay more than the off-peak walk-up fare unless this has been agreed in advance with the event co-ordinator or the treasurer, or unless the total fare is less than £15.^[1]
• If you have a railcard, then please use it! If you would not ordinarily have a railcard, and are eligible for one, then you may claim a subsidy towards the railcard of half the savings made on train tickets for the event. Please ask the treasurer for a form to claim this subsidy. If the CHaOS subsidy would be less than the cost of the railcard, then you may either buy the railcard and claim the subsidy, or CHaOS will pay the full fare. If under these guidelines CHaOS would subsidise the entire cost of the railcard, we would expect you to buy the railcard!
• We may ask you to buy a return ticket and give the return leg to someone else to use. In this case, please follow the instructions given at the time (e.g. you may be asked to book a more flexible ticket, or a ticket without a railcard).
• If joining the tour on a travel day, please try to join the tour at the point that would result in the cheapest train fares (unless told otherwise - you will normally be told the best place to join because we have to make sure that there is enough space in the vehicles for the journey).

2. Coach Travel

In general most people tend to travel to CHaOS events by train as it is easier to get closer to the final destination by train than by coach. However, in some circumstances it may be possible to travel by coach. As with train travel, please use advance fares where possible. However, as coach fares are generally cheaper than train fares, it is acceptable to use a non-advance fare where the extra convenience is required, and no prior approval will be required.

3. Travel by local buses

CHaOS will pay the costs of using local buses as part of a journey to an event. In the event of requiring a transfer at the end of a journey where buses are not available, a short taxi ride may be claimed.

4. Travel by personal car

Often it is not possible to have additional cars at campsites, venues etc. So if you wish to travel by car you must first obtain the permission of the event co-ordinator.

• If you travel on your own, you may only claim the actual cost of the fuel used in the journey. Please provide a fuel receipt, and if this receipt is more than was used for the journey, a computation of how much fuel was used during the journey and the cost of this fuel.
• If you transport others to the event, or if you are asked to bring your car by the committee, then you may claim mileage, currently 30p per mile. A mileage claim form is available from the treasurer.

5. Travel from abroad or by plane within the UK

CHaOS may be able to offer some subsidy towards travel from abroad or by plane within the UK, but this is discretionary and must be agreed with the event co-ordinator and the treasurer.

Guidelines written by Jamie Barron and approved by the CHaOS Committee on 29th June 2009
Footnotes

^{[1]Anyone unfamiliar with the complicated array of different tickets available on the UK train system might find David's brief guide to train tickets [PDF] useful. The Man in Seat Sixty-One website has a rather more detailed guide here.}