Is it legal for a voucher to expire?

QMy son’s school awarded him £20 worth of Love2shop ( www. love2shop.co.uk) vouchers, but due to a serious illness they were misplaced. We’ve since found them, but the website says they’ve expired, and refuses to replace them. Can they do this? Ms Goodey

AYes they can, because there’s no law stating gift vouchers must remain valid indefinitely. But the Consumer Contract Regulations do say that the expiry date must be clearly displayed and easy for the customer to understand. If there’s no expiry date shown on the voucher than the retailer has to honour the amount put on the card. There’s no minimum period a voucher must be valid for, though Trading Standards may consider it unfair if you’re not given long enough to spend them.

However, if a voucher or gift card has only recently expired – say, within the past month – there’s no harm asking the retailer to honour it. This hasn’t worked for Ms Goodey, so we’ve asked her how long has passed since the vouchers expired. If it’s not too long, we could try asking Love2shop to honour them as a goodwill gesture.

Ms Goodey’s case is a reminder to keep an eye on expiry dates. Vouchers are popular with retailers because many customers don’t spend them. Research in 2014 suggested that £300m may go unspent every year: www.snipca. com/25750.