Surveillance Booking & Cancellation

You choose the surveillance period

You can request the exact dates, start time, end time and duration you want us to cover. We assess the location, likely movement and objective, then confirm in writing whether the requested period and team are operationally suitable.

There is no standard website-wide duration. Your accepted quotation is the only document that sets the Agreed Hours, number of operatives, total operative-hours, rates, VAT, expenses and any assignment-specific Booked Commitment.

Your quotation comes first

Before you book, the quotation will identify:

• the question the Assignment is intended to address;
• the exact scheduled period or other agreed end point;
• the number of operatives on duty and any relief-team structure;
• the hourly rate or fixed fee, total operative-hours, VAT and authorised expenses;
• any advance payment;
• any Booked Commitment and its monetary value;
• who may approve extra time or operational changes; and
• the applicable cancellation and Stand-down basis.

Extra time is not added automatically. We obtain written authorisation unless your quotation contains a clear pre-agreed authority limit.

Why more than one team may be reserved

A moving subject, long or continuous coverage, several exits, public transport, difficult roads or an alert subject may require several operatives or relief teams. A fresh team can take over without having been previously exposed and can keep the work safe and sustainable.

If a relief team is identified in the quotation, LPI may commit that team before its shift begins. The quotation will state any associated Booked Commitment or release arrangement.

Surveillance cannot be risk-free

Surveillance is planned to reduce the risk of detection, but zero risk cannot be promised. Narrow, rural or lightly trafficked roads, sudden manoeuvres, changes of transport, several exits, private property, visibility, traffic, weather and a subject's own awareness can interrupt observations or make continued contact unsafe or disproportionate.

Investigators must drive lawfully and safely and will not maintain contact at any cost. LPI may create distance, break contact, reposition, change vehicles or operatives, pause, withdraw or hand over to a fresh team.

If subject awareness is suspected

The current team may disengage while LPI assesses whether the subject can be re-acquired safely, whether a different method is appropriate or whether a clean relief team can continue. Where reasonably safe, the Authorised Contact will receive a factual update with the available options, risks and cost consequences.

If a viable continuation is available and the Client instructs LPI to stop, that is a Client Stand-down. If no lawful, safe or proportionate continuation is available, LPI may pause or end the Assignment. These decisions do not remove LPI's obligation to exercise reasonable care and skill.

Cancellation, rescheduling and Stand-down

Charges depend on the accepted quotation and the commitments actually made for that Assignment. They may include:

• work and operative time properly supplied;
• a current committed shift that cannot reasonably be released or redeployed;
• an already-confirmed relief shift that cannot reasonably be released or redeployed;
• non-refundable vehicles, accommodation, travel, equipment or specialist costs; and
• reasonable net loss on reserved capacity that cannot reasonably be avoided.

LPI will take reasonable steps to reduce its loss and will deduct saved costs, released commitments and replacement income. LPI will not recover twice for the same loss. Consumer charges remain subject to applicable consumer law.

Advance payments

An advance payment reserves resources and is credited against the final account. It is not automatically non-refundable in every circumstance. At the end of the Assignment, LPI will reconcile the account and refund any surplus over sums lawfully due or invoice any shortfall.

Consumer cancellation rights

Consumers who book at a distance or away from LPI's business premises will normally have a statutory cancellation period, subject to exceptions. If you ask us to start during that period, we will obtain a separate express request and explain the financial effect of cancelling after work begins. Your statutory rights are not removed by this policy.

Read the full contract

This page is a plain-language summary. The accepted quotation and LPI's Client Terms and Conditions form the contract. If there is a conflict, the document priority stated in the Client Terms applies.

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