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Charter

At Charlton Athletic Football Company Limited we are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information we collect about you to process orders and to provide a more personalised experience.

Any personal information provided to, or gathered by, Charlton Athletic Football Company Limited, is controlled primarily by Charlton Athletic Football Company Limited of The Valley, Floyd Road, Charlton SE7 8BL.

1 Accessibility

1.1 The club continues to strive for wider access to matches by offering:

1.1.1 A pricing strategy which meets the needs of all individuals, including those purchasing hospitality packages.

1.1.2 A minimum of five per cent of tickets to each game to non season-ticket holders.

1.1.3 Concessions for U18s, U21s, supporters over 60 years of age and disabled supporters.

1.1.4 An area of the ground for the exclusive use of family groups and junior supporters.

1.1.5 Support for disabled supporters and their carers. Our commercial centre can be contacted at The Valley for details of our disabled facilities and ticket allocation on 0871 226 1905.*

1.1.6 Free or reduced admission to replays of abandoned games. If a match is abandoned after spectators are admitted to the ground, but before kick-off, ticket holders are entitled to free admission to the rearranged match. If a match is abandoned after kick-off, spectators are entitled to half-price admission to the rearranged match.

1.1.7 Season tickets payable by instalments through an external credit agency.

1.1.8 A programme of ground improvement through stand development which has increased the seated capacity from 8,337 in 1992 to 27,111 in 2004, with permission approved to further extend the capacity to around 31,000.

1.2 Tickets for domestic cup competitions are announced to supporters following discussions between the clubs. Away clubs will receive a maximum of 15 per cent of stadium capacity in accordance with competition rules, subject to any safety and segregation issues. Season-ticket holders usually have their seat reserved for them for a certain period of time prior to them being released for sale to anyone meeting the appropriate sales criteria. If their seat becomes unavailable for any reason, they will be offered alternative comparable accommodation.

1.3 Refunds for tickets are obtainable up to 24 hours prior to kick-off. Call 0871 226 1905* for a refund form.

2 Away support

2.1 The club's supporters are allocated tickets for away league matches for which there is expected to be excess demand in the following order of priority:-

Season-ticket holders who are Valley Gold members or VIPs.
Supporters who regularly attend away games and via recognised supporters' groups
Remaining season-ticket holders and Valley Gold members
Red Card holders with an adequate purchase history who are not season-ticket holders
General sale, if deemed appropriate

This order of priority also applies to away cup fixtures or those staged at neutral venues, but this is subject to variation dependent upon the allocation of tickets received.

2.2 Supporters of a visiting club are not charged admission prices which are higher than those charged to the club's own supporters for comparable accommodation. In particular, our concessionary rates offered to senior citizens and junior supporters apply to supporters of a visiting club.

2.3 The club abides by the appropriate governing body to the relevant league rules relating to the allocation of tickets to visiting clubs. These state that unless otherwise agreed by the board or between the clubs, each home club shall make available to its visiting club:

2.3.1 2,000 tickets (or, if the capacity of the home club's ground is less than 20,000, such number of tickets as is equal to 10 per cent of its ground capacity) and, whether or not that allocation is taken up,

2.3.2 Tickets for a minimum of 10 per cent of the home club's disabled spectator accommodation.

2.4 The tickets referred to in 2.3.1 must be made available on a sale or return basis and ordered by the visiting club at least five weeks before the league match to which they relate.

3 Loyalty and membership

3.1 The club runs and manages membership schemes, or acknowledges schemes run on an independent basis. The benefits are:-

VIP scheme - various benefits attached to five-year season ticket commitment in 2010. Membership closed.

Red Card membership scheme - the chance to buy tickets for matches played at The Valley (subject to availability), a daily e-mail Bulletin news service on all aspects of the club's activities and free entry to reserve-team games when public admission is permitted. This scheme is free and includes junior, adult and all overseas-based members.

Valley Gold - opportunity to win weekly and annual cash prizes; priority for away ticket allocation; discounts on club merchandise; discounts on selected products and services from Valley Gold associated companies. This scheme is operated independently by 'Charlton Club' on a day-to-day basis.

4 Consultation and information

4.1 The club consults supporters on a regular basis through supporters' club meetings, questionnaires, and league-relevant fan surveys, forums and focus groups. 4.2 The club publicises its position on major policy issues in an easily digested format in the matchday programme, via the official website www.cafc.co.uk, through press releases and its daily e-mail Bulletin.

4.3 The club has developed, and continues to develop, ways to consult with shareholders, sponsors, the local authority, residents' groups, ethnic minority groups, disability organisations and other connected groups.

4.4 The club gives early notice of any changes to its ticketing policy and the reasons for the changes.

5 Community activity

5.1 Key objectives in this area include:-

To encourage the involvement of ethnic minority groups;

To provide football and sporting opportunities for as many young people in the local community as possible;

To provide football coaching, playing and spectating opportunities for disabled people through the disability, mental health and Ability Counts programme;

To organise stand-alone community events and participate in other externally organised community events;

To instigate and operate in a partnership with the local authority, a study support centre, which is part of the national scheme "Playing for Success";

To operate girls'/women's centre of excellence and girls development programme;

To develop and implement an anti-racist strategy in conjunction with Greenwich Council;

To support local charities and worthy causes;

To regularly liaise and meet with local residents.

5.2 Key activities in this area include:-

To implement a programme of school and community visits by players;

Conducting special promotions with schools, community groups and associations;

Overseeing the development of Charlton Athletic Community Trust as follows:

Education and schools initiatives including curriculum and out-of-school coaching, numeracy and literacy initiatives, healthy schools programmes and inclusion/school retention work.

Football development initiatives including school holiday courses, Charlton Challenge, Saturday morning clubs, links with local junior and youth football clubs and coach education programmes.

Social Inclusion initiatives including estates-based coaching, work with Pupil Referral Units and alternative curriculum programmes both within schools and stand-alone organisations to support school retention and improve behaviour, work with refugee groups and pathway to employment and training programmes.

All of the above to be delivered across Greenwich, Bromley, Bexley and Kent.

6 Merchandise

6.1 'Home' replica strip designs normally have a life span of two seasons, unless changes are enforced due to contractual obligations. Subject to such obligations, the club will also introduce an alternate replica kit with a life span of usually one, but no more than two seasons at the start of each season.

6.2 The club communicates with its supporters regarding prospective launch dates of new replica strips when it is contractually practical to do so.

6.3 Details of the next intended change of replica strips are available from the club.

6.4 The club carries out its obligations, under the FA Premier League and Football League rulebooks, to prevent price fixing in relation to the sale of replica strips.

6.5 The club offers refunds on merchandise in accordance with its stated policy and legal obligations. A copy of the club's refunds policy is available in the Superstore.

6.6 The club is happy to print a name and number on the reverse of replica kit, provided that it is not of an obscene or racist nature. However, whilst the club will print the name and squad number of any current member of the playing squad, no refund can be provided or alteration made to the kit should the player in question cease to be a member of the playing staff through a transfer or otherwise.

7 Equal opportunities

7.1 The club operates an equal opportunities policy which is contained within the employees' handbook and is issued to all employees on joining the company.

8 Customer service

8.1 Where required, the club will acknowledge receipt of any contact from a customer within 48 hours and a full written response, if deemed necessary, will be exercised within 14 days. Contact email address customerservice@cafc.co.uk.

8.2 The club responds by telephone, e-mail, fax or letter. If a customer requests a response in writing they receive such a reply.

8.3 The club encourages customers to contact the department relevant to their query. If a customer feels that they have not been satisfied by the relevant department, they are encouraged to write directly to the executive director responsible.

8.4 The club endeavours to ensure that every telephone call is answered within four rings.

8.5 The club undertakes that all messages on its automatic telephoning answering service will be as current as possible.

Any expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or otherwise, will be deemed as a complaint and is therefore subject to the club's complaint handling policy. Receipt of the complaint will be acknowledged, in the first instance, within 48 hours. A response will then be provided within 14 days. If the complaint cannot be satisfactorily resolved within this period, it will be escalated via the office of the chief executive and may ultimately be subject to the club's league governing body.

Signed Stephen Kavanagh (managing director)

July 29th, 2010

For and on behalf of Charlton Athletic Football Company Limited