At Abbey Cars, we pride ourselves on ensuring the safety of all our drivers and passengers. Please refer to the driver’s handbook for further in depth guidelines and instructions.
The company will endeavour to answer all telephone calls promptly, normally within 6 standard rings. It must be understood, however that this is not always possible, even large, purpose built call centres do not always achieve this target.
Faxes and Emails should be read and, where applicable, replied to within 6 hours.
Standard post (letters) will be opened and read upon receipt and, where applicable, responded to within 6 hours of receipt.
All correspondence, where applicable, shall be replied to via Email, unless another form of communication is requested.
Where advanced bookings are taken by telephone, all relevant details will need to be recorded by control, in order to verify availability of vehicle(s).
Fares, including waiting time, will be charged at our standard rates and these are always readily available to any customer on request. Any exceptions to this must be agreed in advance, preferably at the time that a booking is taken.
In the event of an operational or vehicular problem, which would result in a pre-booked vehicle not being able to reach an agreed pick-up point at an agreed time, control will notify the customer as soon as this fact is known. Where possible control will arrange alternative transport.
In the event of any complaint against Abbey Cars, or one of the company’s employees, or drivers, reference should be made to ‘Abbey Cars complaints procedure’. This document details how the company will deal with any complaints.
All journeys should be paid for in G.B.P. (£) on completion, except in cases where an ‘account’ has been agreed in advance. In this case a customers account number (and password) should be quoted at the time of booking. Please note passwords must be quoted by the passenger where necessary.
For more information on customer care, please refer to Abbey Cars driver and passenger risk assessments documentation and to Abbey Cars driver’s handbook. These documents are available to any customers, on request.
This document is supplemental to the company driver and passenger risk assessments, and to the driver’s handbook.
The company and its drivers will take all reasonable precautions to ensure the correct passengers are picked up at any given location. Any passenger should volunteer some form of information which would allow a driver to confirm their identity. The driver can then follow up this by completing job information to the passenger.
For all standard pick ups, it is necessary for the two items of information ‘passengers name’ and ‘destination’ to be exchanged between driver and passenger. This way a driver can identify a passenger as the correct person and visa versa.
In the event that an account is being abused, or there is substantial risk of misuse of an account, then a password and/or official identification system would have to be used. This would be agreed in advance between Abbey Cars and any customer.
Drivers should take the optimal route for any given journey. This can be verified with control at any time.
Owner drivers have the last word on any activity in a vehicle, within the limitations of the law and district council & county council regulations. However it is recommended that drivers do not allow passengers to eat or drink in the vehicle, and of course smoking is not allowed in a private hire vehicle.
Vehicles must be kept clean, inside and out. With any damage being reported to control and repaired at the earliest convenience.
Any requests for bookings made by passengers whilst travelling must be passed on to control. This must be done in front of the customer and before the termination of the journey.
Drivers must attempt to park for a pickup and drop-off in a safe place, where the driver, the passenger(s) or the vehicle would be safe from collisions or damage during loading and unloading of passenger(s) and/or luggage.
Passengers, who may be elderly or infirm, or otherwise in need of assistance, should be transferred into the custody of a relevant guardian. If this is not possible, they should be seen or escorted into the main door of their home or required destination.
Drivers must not behave in an unacceptable manner; this includes using abusive language or making comments that are likely to offend.
Should a passenger attack or assault a driver or wilfully damage a vehicle, then the journey should be terminated at the first possible opportunity, as long as it is safe to do so. The driver should contact control and if necessary, the police.
All guidelines and/or rules in this document are superseded by relevant government, county council or district council regulations.
It is a driver’s responsibility to understand and adhere to, relevant government, county council or district council regulations.
All quotes are from the stated pick up point to the stated drop off point only.
Any quotes do not include any waiting time or extra waypoints except where this is specifically asked for and included in the quote.
In the event of any delay, when passengers would not be at the agreed meeting point at the agreed time, it is the customer’s responsibility to inform abbey cars as such.
Any deviations from a quoted journey or times may be chargeable.
Abbey cars do not accept responsibility for delayed or cancelled aircraft, trains, buses, coaches or any other form of transport not controlled by ourselves.
Abbey cars do not accept responsibility for checking arrival or departure times or check in times for aircraft, trains, buses, coaches or any other form of transport not controlled by ourselves.
Abbey cars may, when necessary, sub-contract to another licensed private hire provider.
When arrival time is critical, the customer should inform Abbey cars, who will recommend a pickup time.
Abbey cars will not be held responsible for any loss (actual or incurred) if our recommended pickup time is not adhered to.
Abbey cars will where possible, acquire and keep on record all relevant contact details for its customers. This information will not be passed on to any other organisation.
Abbey cars do not at present offer a
“ring back” service. Any specific vehicle requirements should be made clear to us at the time of booking.
Abbey cars reserve the right to substitute vehicles without warning (at our cost) to meet or exceed the booked requirements.
Any wilful damage to Abbey cars vehicles or equipment will incur action to recover costs of repair.
Any form of assault on Abbey cars drivers or staff will be reported to the police.
Refusal to pay an agreed fare will be viewed as breach of (verbal) contract and will incur action to recover such monies.
All Abbey cars drivers are self employed and as such Abbey cars will not negotiate discounts for regular work or return trips, in their absence.