Terms & Conditions

1. About these terms

WhyDrive is operated by Vamalio Technologies Ltd (company number 17460666, registered office 5 Brayford Square, London, E1 0SG) (“WhyDrive”, “we”, “us”). These terms apply to your use of whydrive.co.uk and the WhyDrive booking platform. By using them you agree to these terms. Our Privacy Policy explains how we use personal information.

2. What WhyDrive does

WhyDrive is a shared booking technology platform. It brings participating independent licensed taxi and private hire operators together so passengers can request journeys in one place. WhyDrive does not itself provide transport. Each journey is provided by a participating operator, which is responsible for its vehicles, drivers, licensing, insurance and the journey itself.

3. Passenger bookings

• A booking request is not a guarantee of availability. A booking proceeds when a suitable driver accepts or is assigned; the app shows your booking's status.
• Please give accurate journey details, passenger numbers and luggage so a suitable vehicle can be arranged.
• You can amend or cancel bookings in the app where those options are offered. Please cancel as early as possible. An operator may apply a cancellation or waiting charge under its own terms.
• Check that the vehicle and registration match your booking before getting in. If they don't, don't get in and report it.

4. Fares and payment

• Fares are shown as a fixed fare, a fare estimate or quote required. A fixed fare is the price for that booking unless the journey changes. An estimate is calculated using the applicable legal and commercial pricing rules and the final lawful charge may differ.
• Hackney carriage fares will not exceed the maximum fares set by the relevant licensing authority. Private hire fares are agreed in advance.
• Payment for your journey is made to, or on behalf of, the operator providing it, under the payment arrangements shown for your booking.

5. Conduct and safety

Please treat drivers with respect and follow the law and the driver's reasonable safety instructions. Drivers and operators may refuse or end a journey where safety is at risk or behaviour is abusive. Misuse of the platform — including false bookings, harassment or fraud — may lead to your account being suspended. In an emergency, call 999.

6. Using this website

The information on this website is general information about WhyDrive. We work to keep it accurate but it may change as the platform develops. App screens shown on the website are illustrative examples. You must not misuse the website or the enquiry form, attempt to interfere with their security, or submit content that is unlawful or not your own. Content, branding and logos on this site belong to WhyDrive / Vamalio Technologies Ltd or their licensors.

7. Operator terms (summary)

7.1 Independence

Joining WhyDrive does not transfer ownership or control of your business. You keep your registered business, trading name and branding, vehicles and employees, existing customers, licences and your own payment arrangements, and you remain free to accept work independently of WhyDrive. WhyDrive is not buying, franchising or taking ownership of your business. You remain responsible for operating legally.

7.2 Subscription

• Early adoption rate: £39 per vehicle per week, paid by standing order.
• Six-month price guarantee: for operators who join on the early adoption rate, the £39 weekly rate will not increase during your first six months from your agreed start date.
• After the guaranteed period, any change to your subscription price will be notified to you in writing in advance, with the notice period set out in your subscription agreement, so you can decide whether to continue.
• The subscription is a fixed fee for access to the platform. It is not a commission on your fares. You receive your own customer journey payments, subject to the payment arrangements in your agreement.
• Operators joining later may be offered different pricing tiers.
• WhyDrive does not promise any particular number or value of bookings.

7.3 Fair allocation

WhyDrive bookings are allocated automatically using published fairness rules (availability, licensing and eligibility, vehicle suitability, pickup position, timing, service area and recent allocation history). Payment of higher fees cannot buy allocation priority. Allocation decisions are recorded. Manual intervention is limited to exceptional situations such as safety, cancellations or operational failures, and is recorded too.

8. Rules of engagement for operators and drivers

To keep the network safe, fair and reliable for everyone, participating operators agree that they and their drivers will:

1. Stay licensed and insured. Hold valid operator, driver and vehicle licences and insurance for every WhyDrive journey, and keep badge, plate, insurance and other compliance documents and expiry dates up to date in WhyDrive.
2. Only use eligible drivers and vehicles. A WhyDrive job may only be carried out by the driver and vehicle it was allocated to, and only within the terms of their licences.
3. Charge lawfully. Never charge more than the fare shown for the booking or, for hackney carriages, the applicable maximum tariff.
4. Honour accepted jobs. Arrive on time for accepted bookings. If circumstances change, use Pass Booking promptly so the job can be reallocated — don't simply fail to attend.
5. Keep availability accurate. Set availability honestly. Being unavailable is never counted against you; repeatedly accepting and then dropping work, or selectively passing work to game allocation, is.
6. No poaching or side deals. Don't solicit WhyDrive passengers to cancel and rebook privately for a WhyDrive journey, and don't offer or accept payments to influence allocation.
7. Protect passenger data. Use passenger details only to carry out the booking, keep them confidential and don't share or reuse them for marketing.
8. Treat people with respect. No discrimination, harassment or unsafe driving. Accessibility and assistance-dog obligations under the law apply to WhyDrive journeys.
9. Present vehicles properly. Vehicles must be roadworthy, clean and match the details recorded in WhyDrive.
10. Co-operate with complaints and safety reports. Respond promptly to lost property, complaints and safety reports, and tell us about any licence suspension, revocation or relevant investigation without delay.

9. When access may be paused or ended

9.1 Automatic pauses

New WhyDrive allocations to a driver or vehicle are paused automatically, without ending the subscription, if:

• a required document (such as a driver badge, vehicle plate/licence or insurance) has expired, is missing or can't be verified; or
• the driver or vehicle profile is incomplete, or the app is not correctly linked to the vehicle.

Allocations resume once the issue is fixed. We'll give reminders before documents expire wherever we have the expiry date.

9.2 Pauses or suspension we may apply

We may pause or suspend an operator, driver or vehicle from receiving WhyDrive bookings, while we look into it, where:

• there is a credible safety concern, a serious complaint or a report to the police or licensing authority;
• a licence is suspended or revoked, or we're told of an investigation affecting fitness to carry passengers;
• there is a breach of the rules of engagement, such as overcharging, repeated no-shows, poaching passengers or misusing data; or
• subscription payments are overdue (after a reminder and a reasonable period to pay).

We'll tell you why and what is needed to resolve it, unless doing so would compromise safety or an investigation.

9.3 Ending a subscription

• By you: you can pause (for example during a holiday or off-season, where your agreement allows) or end your subscription by giving the notice set out in your agreement. Cancelling the standing order alone does not end the agreement; please tell us in writing.
• By us: we may end a subscription for serious or repeated breaches of these rules, loss of required licences, fraud, or persistent non-payment, or by giving the notice in your agreement if we withdraw WhyDrive from an area.
• On ending, access to WhyDrive bookings stops, and future WhyDrive jobs allocated to you are reallocated. Records we must keep by law are retained as described in our Privacy Policy.

10. Liability

Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. Operators are responsible for the journeys they provide. To the extent the law allows, WhyDrive is not liable for losses caused by a participating operator's acts or omissions, or for indirect or unforeseeable losses. If you are a consumer, you have legal rights that these terms do not affect.

11. Law and complaints

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in your local courts. If something goes wrong, contact us first at support@vamalio.com (operators: driver@whydrive.co.uk) and we'll try to put it right. Complaints about a driver's or vehicle's licensing can also be made to the licensing authority that issued the licence.

12. Image credits

• Sunset at Bude and Bude coastline — photos by Giuseppe Milo, licensed under CC BY 2.0, resized.
• Widemouth Bay, North Cornwall (aerial) — photo by John D Fielding, licensed under CC BY 2.0, resized.
• Map data in illustrative app screens © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence.