Return of deposit

[Barquentine]

If a trader who has no terms & conditions puts on a special offer - a customer books a time & date and pays a deposit - but, on the day the services were to take place, the trader has a car accident - and the weather also prevents the services taking place on that date.
The trader offers an alternative date - but the customer has changed their mind (partly because their circumstances have changed) and asks for the desposit back.
Legally - can the trader keep the deposit?
Commercially - ought the trader to return the deposit?
Thanks!

[factor-fiction]

II'm not clear whether there is any significance in the statement "..and the weather also prevents the services taking place on that date". Did the weather prevent the trader doing the work or did the customer blame the wather for him/her not turning up on the agreed date?

[sandyRoe]

If you had agreed a time and day with the trader for the work to be done that would constitute a contract. By failing to turn up at the appointed time, for whatever reason, the trader had broken it. You should get the deposit back.
It would probably be a case for the small claims court.

[bushbaby_de]

I think this sounds more like homework more than a genuine question.....