Legal
Privacy Policy
How we collect, use and protect personal information on the WhyDrive website and booking platform.
Last updated: 21 October 2026
1. Who we are
WhyDrive is a booking platform brand operated by Vamalio Technologies Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17460666), registered office 5 Brayford Square, London, E1 0SG (“we”, “us”). For the purposes of UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), Vamalio Technologies Ltd is the controller of personal information collected through this website and the WhyDrive platform, except where an operator acts as a controller as described below.
Contact for privacy matters: support@vamalio.com. Operator and driver enquiries: driver@whydrive.co.uk.
2. The role of participating operators
Journeys booked through WhyDrive are provided by participating independent licensed taxi and private hire operators. When an operator receives your booking, it uses your journey and contact details to provide the journey and meet its own licensing and legal obligations (for example, keeping booking records required by its licensing authority). For that use, the operator is a separate controller and is responsible for its own compliance. You can ask us to help you contact the operator for your journey.
3. Website visitors
When you visit whydrive.co.uk our hosting provider processes standard technical information (such as IP address, browser type and requested pages) to deliver the site, protect it from abuse and keep it secure. We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to count visits and page views. It doesn't use cookies or track you across other websites, and we only see aggregate statistics. We do not use advertising cookies or advertising trackers.
Fonts and images on this website are served from our own hosting, so viewing the site doesn't send your information to font or advertising providers.
4. Taxi operator and driver enquiries
If you send an enquiry through our Join WhyDrive form we collect: business and trading name, contact name, email address, telephone number, business postcode, operating area, licensing authority and licence type, fleet details (vehicle make, model, type, seating, luggage capacity, licensing category, and optionally registration and licence expiry), your joining preferences, current booking arrangements, comments and your consent choices.
We use this information only to assess and respond to your enquiry, discuss joining WhyDrive and plan network coverage. The enquiry is emailed securely to our team at driver@whydrive.co.uk and we send you a confirmation email. To stop abuse of the form we briefly process a one-way coded version of your IP address to limit repeated submissions.
Please don't include sensitive information (such as health details or criminal records) in the form. We'll request any licensing documents we need later through a secure onboarding process.
5. Passengers using the booking app
When you use the WhyDrive booking app we process:
- Account details — your name and mobile number, verified by a one-time SMS code.
- Booking details — pickup and destination, date and time, passengers, luggage, vehicle type, flight or train details and booking notes.
- Location — only if you choose location features (such as “use my location” or reporting that your driver hasn't arrived).
- Messages and reports — in-app messages with your driver, lost property reports, cancellation reasons and ratings.
- Technical information — device and app information needed for security, notifications and fixing faults.
We use this to quote and arrange your journey, share it with the operator and driver handling it, send booking updates, support you, keep records, prevent misuse and meet legal obligations. Drivers who are not handling your booking do not see your personal details.
6. Our lawful bases
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Arranging and supporting your booking | Performance of a contract (or steps you ask us to take before one) |
| Handling operator enquiries | Legitimate interests in responding to and developing business relationships; steps before a contract |
| Security, fraud and abuse prevention, rate limiting | Legitimate interests in protecting our services and users |
| Keeping records required by law or licensing | Legal obligation |
| Optional location features | Your choice to use the feature (you can switch location access off in your device settings) |
We don't use your information for marketing without your separate consent, and we don't sell personal information.
7. Who we share information with
- The participating operator and assigned driver for your booking.
- Service providers who process data on our behalf: Cloudflare (website hosting, security and cookie-free visit statistics), Google Firebase (app authentication, database and notifications), Google Maps Platform (addresses, routes and maps), Resend (sending enquiry and confirmation emails) and our email provider.
- Licensing authorities, the police or other bodies where we are legally required to, or where necessary to protect someone's safety.
8. International transfers
Some of our service providers may process data outside the UK. Where they do, we rely on appropriate safeguards recognised by UK law, such as UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement / UK Addendum to standard contractual clauses.
9. How long we keep information
- Operator enquiries — up to 24 months after our last contact, unless you join WhyDrive (then for the length of our relationship and as required afterwards for legal and accounting purposes).
- Booking records — for as long as needed to provide the service and meet legal, licensing, accounting and dispute-resolution requirements.
- Rate-limiting data — coded IP data is deleted automatically within about an hour.
10. Security
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information, including encrypted (HTTPS) connections, access controls and keeping secret keys on the server rather than in the website or app. No online service can be guaranteed completely secure, but we work to protect your information and will act promptly on any concerns.
11. Your rights
You have rights to access your personal information, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to certain processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent where we rely on it. Email support@vamalio.com to make a request. We'll respond within one month.
If you're unhappy with how we handle your information, please contact us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
12. Cookies and local storage
This website doesn't set advertising or analytics cookies (our Cloudflare Web Analytics is cookie-free). The Join WhyDrive form keeps an unsent draft in your browser's session storage so you don't lose your entries if the page reloads; it is cleared when you send the form or close the browser tab. The booking app uses storage that is strictly necessary for signing in and remembering your bookings.
13. Changes and contact
We may update this policy as WhyDrive develops. The date at the top shows when it last changed. Questions: support@vamalio.com.