Royal Cars Terms and Conditions (Oct 2026)

These Terms apply to bookings made on or after Wednesday 28 October 2026.

These Terms explain how our private hire service works and what you can expect from us. Part A covers journeys booked with us. Part B covers use of our website and app. Nothing in these Terms affects your legal rights as a consumer.

1. Who we are

Royal Cars is a trading name of Oxon Transport Services Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 07214828). Registered office: The Old Chapel, Union Way, Witney, OX28 6HD. Main office: Unit 1 Isis Business Centre, Pony Road, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2RD.

We are a private hire operator licensed by Oxford City Council (operator licence PHO:0011). All our drivers and vehicles are licensed. Private hire vehicles can only carry passengers who have booked through us.

Contact: 01865 777 333 or administrator@royal-cars.com.

PART A – JOURNEYS

2. Booking

• You can book by phone, through our app or through our website.
• A booking is accepted when we confirm it by phone, in the app or by email or text. We record the details of every booking as our licence requires.
• We can’t carry more passengers than the vehicle is licensed for. Please tell us the number of passengers, any luggage, child seats or accessibility needs when you book.
• For pre-booked journeys we recommend booking at least six hours in advance. We will still try to meet bookings made at shorter notice, and send the next available car.

3. Prices

• Airport journeys are charged at a fixed price, which we quote when you book. All other journeys are charged by meter, using our table of fares. When you book a metered journey we can give you an estimate, but the fare you pay is the amount on the meter at the end of the journey. Our table of fares is available on request and is carried in every vehicle.
• Busy-time surcharge: a surcharge applies to journeys between 6am and 9am, 1pm and 7pm, and 10pm and 5am. It is always included in the price or estimate we give you when you book, and it is part of our table of fares for metered journeys.
• Airport drop-off charge: airports charge vehicles to drop off at the terminal. Fixed airport prices do not include the airport drop-off charge. When you book an airport drop-off, the airport’s drop-off charge will be added to the fare (passed on at cost, with no mark-up). Controllers will tell you the amount when you book. If the drop-off takes longer than the airport’s included time band, any extra charge from the airport is also passed on at cost, and we will tell you. The current first-band charges (checked on 23 October 2026) are listed below. The airport’s own website is always the latest source, and our Price Guide page will be updated to match.
  • Heathrow (all terminals): £7 each time the car enters a terminal drop-off zone (heathrow.com/transport-and-directions/terminal-drop-off-charge)
  • Gatwick (North and South): £10 for up to 10 minutes, then £1 a minute, up to a maximum of £30 (gatwickairport.com/transport-options/drop-off.html)
  • Stansted (Express Set Down): £10 for up to 15 minutes, or £28 for over 15 minutes (stanstedairport.com/getting-to-and-from/pick-up-and-drop-off/)
  • Luton (Drop Off Zone): £9 for up to 12 minutes, then £1 a minute (london-luton.co.uk/to-and-from-lla/dropping-off)
  • London City: £8 for up to 5 minutes, then £1 a minute, maximum stay 10 minutes (londoncityairport.com/parking/drop-off)
  • St Pancras station: no drop-off charge
• Collections: where we collect you from an airport, the airport car park charge is passed on at cost, as shown on our Price Guide page.
• A fixed price can only change if you change the journey, for example extra stops, a different destination or route, extra passengers or bulky items, or waiting time as set out in section 5. Where possible we will tell you the new price before the change. If we need to change a fixed price after you have booked through the app or website for any other reason, we will contact you first and you can cancel free of charge.

4. Callout charge (journeys starting outside Oxford)

• Where we send a car to pick you up from a location outside Oxford, a callout charge applies for the empty miles from Oxford to your pick-up point.
• The charge is £2.60 per mile during the day, and £2.80 per mile between 10pm and 5am. It is calculated from Oxford to the pick-up location.
• We will tell you the callout charge when you book, and it is included in the price or estimate we give you.

5. Waiting time

• Fixed-price (airport) bookings: your driver will wait 3 minutes free of charge at the pick-up point. After that, waiting time is charged at 30p a minute (£18.00 an hour). Waiting time also applies if you ask the driver to stop and wait during the journey. We never charge waiting time for traffic delays on a fixed-price booking.
• Metered journeys: the meter includes a time element when the car is stopped or moving slowly, as shown in our table of fares.
• Any waiting-time charge on a fixed-price booking will be shown separately as "waiting time" on your receipt.

6. Luggage, child seats and accessibility

• We carry a reasonable amount of luggage, and mobility aids, foldable wheelchairs and children’s pushchairs, at no extra charge. Drivers will give reasonable help with loading and unloading.
• Excess baggage carried inside the vehicle (rather than in the boot) may incur a £5 charge. Where you need an estate car, there is an extra £5 charge for that vehicle. We will tell you when you book.
• Bulky items or removals: please tell us when you book. The driver will look at the items, and any extra charge will be agreed with you before the journey starts. If you don’t agree, you don’t have to pay it, and you can decide not to take the items. We never charge for mobility aids or a reasonable amount of luggage.
• Assistance dogs are always carried free of charge, unless the driver holds a medical exemption certificate from the council, in which case we will send another car. Pets are carried at the driver’s discretion for an extra £5, and must be safely contained. There is never a charge for assistance dogs.
• We don’t currently have wheelchair-accessible vehicles, so we can’t carry passengers who need to stay in their wheelchair. Our drivers will carry foldable wheelchairs and other mobility aids free of charge and help you into the vehicle.
• Child seats are available for £10 per journey. Please ask when you book.

7. Payment

We accept all major payment methods. You can pay when you book, or pay the driver at the end of the journey, including by card using the driver’s card machine.

8. Cancellations and no-shows

• You can cancel by calling us or in the app. There is no charge for cancelling, and we don’t charge a no-show fee.
• Because this is a passenger transport service for a specific date or time, the 14-day cancellation period for online purchases does not apply.

9. Our service and delays

• We will provide our service with reasonable care and skill, and do our best to make sure a suitable vehicle arrives at the booked time.
• We are not responsible for delays caused by things outside our reasonable control, such as heavy traffic, accidents, road closures or severe weather. At peak and busy times there may be delays, so please allow extra time for flights, trains, hospital appointments and other important journeys.
• If we are going to be late, we will try to let you know.

10. Passenger conduct

We want every journey to be safe for passengers, drivers and our office team. Abusive, threatening, discriminatory or violent behaviour, including sexual harassment, towards our drivers or staff, in person or on the phone, will not be tolerated. If it happens:

• our controllers may end the call;
• the driver may refuse to start the journey, or end it at a safe place;
• we may refuse future bookings from you; and
• we may report it to Thames Valley Police.

You must also wear a seatbelt where one is fitted, not smoke or vape in the vehicle, and not damage the vehicle. If the vehicle needs specialist cleaning or repair because of you, we will charge a soiling or damage fee of £70.

We will never refuse a booking because of a person’s disability, race, religion or any other protected characteristic.

Calls to our office are recorded for training, quality and safety purposes, and our vehicles are fitted with Samsara cameras. See our Privacy Policy for how we use these recordings and how long we keep them.

11. Lost property

• Please check you have all your belongings before leaving the vehicle.
• Drivers check their vehicle after every journey and take reasonable steps to return anything left behind to its owner. Items found are handed in to our office before the end of the driver’s shift, and always within 24 hours.
• Phones, electronic devices, bank cards, ID documents and anything illegal or dangerous are dealt with under the Thames Valley Police procedure for found property within 24 hours.
• Other items are kept at our office for 48 hours. If they haven’t been collected by then, we take them to a police station, or follow the Thames Valley Police procedure for found property if the police won’t accept them.
• To report a lost item, call 01865 777 333 or use our Lost Property page. You can collect your item from our office free of charge. If you would like it delivered, we charge the metered fare from the driver’s location to your address, and we will give you an estimate first.

12. Our liability to you

• If we fail to provide the service with reasonable care and skill, you have legal rights, including the right to ask us to put it right or to a price reduction.
• We are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking these Terms or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for losses that are not foreseeable.
• Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit.
• If you book as a business, we are not liable for loss of profit, business or opportunity.

13. Complaints

If you are unhappy with a journey or our service, please contact us on 01865 777 333 or at administrator@royal-cars.com. We acknowledge complaints within 48 hours on weekdays. Complaints received at the weekend are acknowledged on the next weekday. You can also contact Oxford City Council’s licensing team about licensed drivers, vehicles and operators.

For complaints about how we use your personal data, please use our Data Protection Complaint page: https://royal-cars.com/data-protection-complaint/

14. Your personal information

We use your personal information to take and carry out your booking, keep the records our licence requires and keep everyone safe. Our Privacy Policy (https://royal-cars.com/privacy-policy/) explains what we collect, who we share it with (for example our booking and phone system and vehicle camera providers), how long we keep it and your rights.

15. App messages

We will send you messages about your bookings, such as confirmations and driver arrival alerts. We will only send marketing messages if you have agreed, or if you are an existing customer and have not opted out, and you can opt out at any time.

PART B – USING OUR WEBSITE AND APP

16. Use of our website and app

• Our website and app are free to use. We may change or suspend them at any time, but we will try to keep disruption to a minimum.
• The content on our website belongs to us or our licensors. You may view, download and print it for personal use, but not copy it for commercial use without our permission.
• You must not misuse our website or app, for example by introducing viruses, trying to get unauthorised access or attacking it. This may be a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and we may report it to the police.
• Links to other websites are for information only. We are not responsible for their content.
• Our Cookie Policy explains how we use cookies.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The Terms that apply to your journey are the ones in force when you book. The version date is shown at the top.

18. Law

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.