Passenger Terms

About these terms

These terms apply to every booking made with Gilberts Taxis, by phone, in our app, on our website or by WhatsApp. By making a booking you agree to them. They do not affect your legal rights as a consumer.

Gilberts Taxis is the trading name of Christopher, Tracey & Haydn Gilbert, a partnership (“Gilberts”, “we”, “us”). We are a private hire and hackney carriage operator licensed by Buckinghamshire Council, based at 95 High Street, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, HP16 0AL. Telephone: 01494 771000.

Who provides your journey

Unless we tell you otherwise, your journey is provided by an independent, self-employed, licensed driver. Gilberts acts as that driver’s booking agent: we take your booking, dispatch it to a driver, and collect payment where you pay by card or on account. Your contract for the journey itself is with the driver, and we separately provide the booking and dispatch service.

In some cases Gilberts provides the journey itself, and your contract is with us. This applies to account customers, contracted work such as school and council transport, and journeys carried out by our own employed drivers. We will tell you if this applies to your booking.

Whichever applies, Gilberts remains the licensed operator for your booking, and we meet all the duties the law places on a licensed operator. Your booking confirmation and our app show your driver and vehicle details.

Fares and quotes

• Any fare shown or quoted at booking is an estimate unless we have told you it is a fixed price. The final fare is subject to change and can be higher or lower, depending on traffic, weather, road closures and diversions, the route taken, and any changes you make to the journey.
• Vehicle size and upgrades: the vehicle you book must be large enough for everyone and everything you are bringing. If your passengers and luggage will not safely fit in the vehicle booked (for example, four passengers with four large cases and hand luggage in a saloon car), we may need to provide a larger vehicle so that your journey can go ahead. A larger vehicle costs more, and we will charge the fare for the vehicle used. We will contact you first to let you know. If we cannot reach you, we reserve the right to upgrade the booking to a suitable vehicle and update the fare so that we can still carry out your journey. Please tell us at booking how many passengers and how much luggage you have.
• Local journeys run on the meter at the council-approved tariff, which is higher at night. Airport, hospital and long-distance journeys are fixed prices, confirmed when you book (a fixed price applies to the vehicle, route and passenger and luggage details you gave us, and may change if these change). You can call or email us to agree a fixed price for other journeys.
• The only charge added to a quoted airport price is any airport parking or drop-off charge payable at the airport.
• We never add a surcharge for paying by card.

Payment

• You can pay by cash, by card in our app, or on account where this has been agreed.
• When you book in our app with a card, a temporary hold is placed on your card for slightly more than the estimate, to cover changes to the journey. A hold is not a charge. You are charged the actual fare when the journey ends, and the hold is released.
• Card payments are processed by Stripe through our booking system. We never take card details over the phone and we do not store them.
• You are entitled to a receipt on request.
• Reading your receipt: our vehicles use a council-approved meter, which charges by distance and by time, in line with the fares set by Buckinghamshire Council. On your automated receipt, the “fare” line is the distance charge. The “additional fees” line, which may be labelled “waiting time”, is the time spent travelling slowly (below 9mph), for example in slow traffic or at junctions and traffic lights. It is part of the metered fare and is not a separate charge added by us.

Cancellations, no-shows and waiting time

• Cancelling an app booking: if you book in our app with a card and cancel more than 5 minutes after a driver has been dispatched, a cancellation fee of £7.00 is charged to your card. This fee is paid to the driver, not to Gilberts. Cancelling earlier than that is free.
• Other bookings: we do not charge a cancellation fee for bookings made by other means. Please still tell us as soon as you can if you no longer need a car.
• No-shows: if your driver has arrived and waited more than 5 minutes and you do not appear, a no-show fee of £7.00 applies to card bookings and account bookings. We do not charge a no-show fee on cash bookings. This fee is paid to the driver, not to Gilberts.
• Airport pick-ups: we allow 45 minutes of free waiting after your flight’s landing time. After that, waiting is charged at £20.00 per hour, or the equivalent part of an hour.

Your responsibilities

• Please give accurate pick-up and destination details, and a working contact number.
• Please treat your driver and vehicle with respect, wear a seat belt where required, and do not smoke in the vehicle.
• A driver may refuse to carry you, or end a journey, if your behaviour puts the safety of the driver or others at risk.

Complaints and lost property

If something goes wrong, contact us on 01494 771000 or at bookings@gilbertstaxis.com. We investigate every complaint, whether your journey was provided by an independent driver or by us. If you leave anything in a vehicle, call us as soon as possible so we can reach the driver. You can also complain to Buckinghamshire Council’s licensing team.

Liability

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud, or limits your rights under consumer law. We aim to be on time, but we cannot guarantee exact arrival or journey times, which can be affected by traffic and other factors outside our control.

Your data

We use your booking details to arrange and carry out your journey. See our Privacy Notice for how we use call recordings, card payments and booking information, and for your rights.

Changes and governing law

We may update these terms from time to time. The version in force when you make a booking applies to that booking. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.

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