Terms of service

1About us

We are the private hire operator named at the foot of every page, licensed by Hertsmere Borough Council as a private hire operator under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. Our operator licence number, our operating centre and our telephone number are shown there, and on every booking confirmation.

You can speak to a person on that telephone number during our hours of business and at any time while your journey is under way.

We are not registered for VAT at present, so no VAT is included in or added to our prices. If that changes, the published prices change with it before anyone books at them.

2Where we are licensed, and why that covers your journey

Our operator licence, our chauffeurs' licences and our cars' licences all come from Hertsmere Borough Council, which is what the law asks for: the three must match. A journey booked with us can then begin or end anywhere in England and Wales, which is why a Hertfordshire licence covers a Heathrow pickup.

Conditions 17a and 20 of our operator licence say it plainly: we may not send you a car that is not licensed by Hertsmere, driven by a chauffeur licensed by Hertsmere. Section 46(1)(e) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 makes the same point as an offence rather than a condition.

3Pre-booked journeys only

Every journey is booked in advance. Condition 7 of our operator licence allows us to carry you only where you, or someone acting for you, asked for the journey beforehand, by telephone, email, text, the website or in person.

So we are not a taxi. Our cars cannot be hailed in the street or hired at a rank, and a driver who offers you a ride you did not book is not working for us.

4Who these terms are for

The booker is the person who makes and pays for the booking. The passenger is the person who travels. They may be the same person.

When you book, you agree to these terms. If you book for someone else, you confirm that they have agreed to you giving us their details, and that you will tell them about the parts of these terms that affect them, such as waiting time and conduct in the car.

The version of these terms, and of our cancellation policy, in force when you book is the version that applies to that booking. Your confirmation links to both.

5We are responsible for your journey

When we accept your booking we contract with you directly, as principal, to provide the journey. That stays true when the chauffeur is self-employed or works for a partner operator.

Section 56(1) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 puts the same thing in the law's words: the contract for the hire of a licensed private hire vehicle is treated as made with the operator who accepted the booking, whether or not that operator provided the vehicle.

We may pass your booking to another licensed private hire operator. Conditions 10 to 12 of our operator licence govern how: we record who we passed it to before the car is sent, we must satisfy ourselves that they are correctly licensed and insured, and we must tell you that we have done it, give you their details, and confirm that we remain responsible for carrying out your booking. Your contract stays with us.

Only we can cancel a booking once we have accepted it. A chauffeur cannot.

6The price

The price you see before you book is the price you pay for the journey you booked. It includes the journey, the waiting time included with your booking, the Congestion Charge, ULEZ charges, tunnel and bridge tolls and the Dartford Crossing charge where they apply to your route, airport drop-off and pick-up charges, airport parking during the included waiting time, meeting you inside the terminal where you chose it, and anything you chose before seeing prices, such as a child seat or an extra stop.

We never add a mandatory fee after you have seen the price. Where a surcharge applies, such as for booking at short notice, it is shown as a named line with the price before you book.

A price on the website is held for 15 minutes. We check it again when you pay. If it has changed, we show you the new price before you pay, and we never charge an amount we have not shown you.

The total can change after you book only if something happens that the fixed price does not include: waiting beyond the included time, a change you ask for, time or mileage beyond what you booked on an hourly hire, or soiling or damage to the car caused by a passenger. The rates for each are part of our published rate card, and those for your car class are shown when you book.

The fare we quote you goes into the booking record before the car is sent, because condition 24e of our operator licence requires it.

7When your booking becomes a contract

You choose your journey and car class and see the full price, enter the booker's and passenger's details, then press the button that shows the price, for example "Book for £142". Pressing it means you are placing an order that you must pay for.

Once your payment has succeeded we accept your booking and send you a confirmation. The contract between us starts when we accept your booking, which is when we send that confirmation.

If your payment fails, or we cannot accept your booking, there is no contract and we do not charge you. If any money was taken, we refund it in full.

Some bookings need a person to check them before we can accept them, for example a price we must confirm with you, a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, or a child seat at short notice. We tell you on screen when that applies, and the contract starts only when we confirm the booking.

Your confirmation shows our trading name, licence number and telephone number; your booking reference, pickup, destination and any stops; the date and time, car class and number of passengers; the total price and that it is fixed; the included waiting time; a one-sentence summary of the cancellation policy with a link to the version you accepted; and a link to view or change your booking. Please check it and tell us straight away if anything is wrong.

8Payment

You pay the full price when you book. Our payment provider, Stripe, processes the payment, and we never see or store your full card number.

Your payment method is saved securely with Stripe. We use it only for waiting beyond the included time, extras, and price increases from changes you ask for. Before we charge it, we send the booker a message with the amount and the reason, and afterwards an itemised receipt.

If your bank asks you to confirm a charge, we send you a link to do so. Our staff never ask for card details by telephone; for a telephone booking we send a secure payment link.

Business accounts that pay by invoice have separate account terms.

9Waiting time

Your price includes a period of waiting. An arrival at an airport, a departure from one, any other pickup and each extra stop each have their own included time, and the time for your booking is shown with the price and again on your confirmation.

If you give us your flight number, we track the flight. If it lands early or late, we move the pickup to match, and your included waiting starts from when it actually lands. You do not pay for a flight delay.

Waiting beyond the included time is charged per minute at the rate for your car class, up to the maximum set in our rate card. The chauffeur records the waiting at the end of the journey, we check it before it is charged, and we message you with the amount before charging your saved payment method.

If you are going to be late, call us on the telephone number at the foot of every page and we will do what we can.

10Changing your booking

You can change the time, addresses, stops, passengers, luggage, extras or car class from your booking, up to the amendment cut-off set in the version of our cancellation policy that applies to your booking.

We work out the new price using the same rate card as your original booking and show you the difference before you confirm. If the price goes up, we charge the difference to your saved payment method. If it goes down, we refund the difference.

After the cut-off, use "Request a change" on your booking or call us. We tell you whether we can make the change, and at what price, before anything is charged. We can also make a change for you at any time, priced the same way.

11Cancelling your booking

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 give consumers a right to cancel many contracts made online within 14 days. Regulation 27(2)(c) says that right does not apply to contracts for passenger transport services, so it does not apply to a booking with us. Our cancellation policy sets out instead whether you receive a refund when you cancel.

You can cancel from your booking or by calling us. Any cancellation fee is worked out from the version of the cancellation policy that applied when you booked, never from a later version. We show you the refund before you confirm, and it goes back automatically to the card you paid with.

We treat a booking as a no-show only when all of these apply: the included waiting time has passed, together with the further time allowed in the cancellation policy; we have tried to contact you at least twice; and a member of our team has confirmed it. The cancellation policy sets any no-show fee.

12If we cancel or cannot provide your journey

If we cancel your booking, or cannot provide the journey, for any reason other than a breach of these terms by you, we tell you as soon as we can and try to arrange another car. If we cannot provide the journey, we refund everything you paid for it.

If we cancel for a reason within our control, we also repay the reasonable cost of alternative transport you had to arrange for the same journey, up to the price of the journey you booked, when you send us the receipt.

Where your journey is delayed or stopped by something we did not foresee, or by a breakdown, condition 18 of our operator licence requires us to tell you as soon as we can and to make the arrangements needed to carry out your booking. We do.

If the cause is an event outside our control, the section on events outside our control applies instead.

13On the journey

Each car class shows the maximum number of passengers it carries, and no car we provide carries more than eight, because a private hire vehicle is by law a car built or adapted to seat fewer than nine passengers. Everyone must wear a seat belt where one is fitted, apart from children the law allows to travel without one, described under children and child seats below.

Please do not smoke or vape in the car, and please treat the chauffeur with respect.

The chauffeur may refuse to start a journey, or may end it somewhere safe, if a passenger is violent, threatening or abusive, or behaves in a way that puts anyone's safety at risk. If that happens, no refund is due for the part of the journey not provided because of that behaviour.

If a passenger soils or damages the car, we may charge the booker the reasonable cost of cleaning or repair, and for the time the car cannot be used. Before we charge, we send the amount, the reason and photographs or other evidence, and you can dispute it through our complaints procedure.

Each car class shows how much luggage it can carry, so please tell us what you are bringing when you book. If you bring more than the car can carry safely, the chauffeur may not be able to take it all; where possible we offer a larger car and you pay only the price difference. Please do not bring anything dangerous or illegal.

Wheelchairs, mobility aids and assistance dogs are never counted as luggage and are always carried free. For anything left in the car, see our lost property page.

14Children and child seats

You can book a rear-facing infant seat, a forward-facing child seat or a booster as an extra before you see the price. Any charge for a seat is shown there and is part of the fixed price.

We need notice to fit a child seat, and the booking form shows how much. A booking made with less notice needs our team to confirm it before it is accepted. Please tell us your child's age so we fit the right seat.

If you do not book a seat, the law allows children to travel in a licensed private hire car without one, but only on a rear seat. A child under 3 may travel without a seat belt, and a child aged 3 or over must wear an adult seat belt. We strongly recommend booking a seat.

15Accessibility

Assistance dogs, wheelchairs and mobility aids are always carried free, as the Equality Act 2010 requires, and we never charge extra because a passenger is disabled. Our accessibility page explains how to book with access needs.

Conditions 49 to 52 of our operator licence put the same duties on us as the operator, not only on the chauffeur: we must have a policy for complying with the Equality Act 2010, take reasonable steps to see that no chauffeur refuses a wheelchair user or an assistance dog, and make no extra charge for either.

16Your chauffeur's details

Before your journey starts we send the passenger the chauffeur's first name, their private hire driver licence number and the car's registration number, together with the car's make, model and colour and a photograph of the chauffeur where your message channel can show one.

Condition 54 of our operator licence requires the make, model and registration, and requires us to tell you in advance that the car is unmarked and does not display a private hire plate. The first name, the driver licence number and the photograph are ours to add, and we send them because they are what actually lets you check the car at the kerb.

Do not get into a car whose details do not match. Call us instead. Our passenger safety page explains what to check.

17Events outside our control

We are not responsible for delay or failure caused by an event outside our reasonable control whose effect we could not have avoided by taking reasonable care, such as severe weather, a road, tunnel or airport closure, a serious accident, a police or security incident, or civil unrest. Ordinary traffic that a careful operator would plan for is not outside our control.

If such an event happens, we tell you as soon as we can and do what we reasonably can to get you to your destination or to a safe alternative. If we cannot provide the journey at all, we refund what you paid for the part not provided.

18Our responsibility to you

Section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires us to provide the service with reasonable care and skill, and section 57 of that Act means we cannot exclude that duty.

If we break these terms or fail to use reasonable care and skill, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that was a foreseeable result. Loss is foreseeable if it was obvious it would happen, or if we both knew it might happen when you booked. We are not responsible for loss that was not foreseeable.

If you book for the purposes of a business, we are not responsible for loss of profit, loss of business or business interruption.

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, which section 65 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 does not allow, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit or exclude. A term that is unfair under section 62 of that Act does not bind you, and nothing in these terms affects your legal rights as a consumer.

19Your personal information

We use your personal information as our privacy notice explains.

20Complaints

Please tell us if something goes wrong. Our complaints page explains how, what we do and how long it takes, and we keep that procedure because condition 30 of our operator licence requires us to have one.

You can also complain in writing to Hertsmere Borough Council, the authority that licenses us, at licensing.taxis@hertsmere.gov.uk. If a crime may have been committed, call the police on 999 in an emergency or 101 otherwise. Where a complaint alleges violence, a sexual offence, or a risk to a child or a vulnerable adult, we report it to the council and the police immediately.

What the council can act on is the conduct of a chauffeur and the fitness of a car. A complaint about the service we sold you — the price, the waiting, a journey that went wrong — is for us to put right, and if we do not, for the courts; Hertsmere's licensing policy says so at paragraph 7.5.1 and we would rather you knew it before you wrote to them.

21Changes to these terms

We may update these terms, for example when the law changes. A change applies only to bookings made after we publish it. Every version stays on this page, and the version accepted with your booking stays linked from your confirmation.

22Law and courts

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. You and we can both bring legal proceedings in the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring proceedings in your local courts.

23Every version of this document

• Version 2026-09-3 (the version in force)In effect from 16 September 2026
• Version 2026-09-2In effect from 15 September 2026
• Version 2026-09-1In effect from 13 September 2026

A published version is never edited. A correction is a new version with a new effective date, and your booking keeps the version you agreed to.