London Minicab Hire
Last updated: 9 October 2026
These Terms and Conditions apply to bookings made with South West Cars Private Hire Limited ("South West Cars", "we", "us" or "our") for private hire vehicle services.
By making a booking with us, you agree to these Terms and Conditions, as updated from time to time.
South West Cars is a minicab service licensed by Transport for London ("TfL") as a private hire operator.
For the purposes of these Terms and Conditions, "you" and "Passenger" mean the person making the booking and, where applicable, any passenger travelling under that booking.
"Driver" means the licensed private hire driver allocated by South West Cars to carry out the booking.
"Vehicle" means the licensed private hire vehicle allocated by South West Cars to carry out the journey.
"Booking" means a request for private hire transportation made by you which is accepted by South West Cars.
"Journey" means the transportation service described in an accepted Booking, including the agreed collection point and destination.
When South West Cars accepts your Booking, a contract consisting of these Terms and Conditions, together with the Booking details and any terms expressly agreed with you when the Booking is accepted is formed between you and South West Cars as principal and covers both our acceptance of the Booking and our obligation to provide the transportation services comprising the agreed Journey. South West Cars remains responsible for those contractual obligations notwithstanding that a Driver carries out the Journey on its behalf. No Driver has authority to enter into a separate transportation contract with you in place of South West Cars in relation to a Booking accepted by South West Cars.
South West Cars may use a TfL-licensed private hire driver and TfL-licensed private hire vehicle to fulfil an accepted Booking. The Driver carries out the Journey on behalf of South West Cars. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions makes South West Cars merely an agent or intermediary for the Driver in relation to the transportation services.
Bookings may be made by telephone (020 8946 5000), or email (info@southwestcars.com).
A request for transportation is not an accepted Booking until it has been accepted and confirmed by South West Cars. Where applicable, we will provide confirmation of the Booking, including but not limited to the agreed collection details, destination, date and time and the agreed fare or fare estimate.
We may decline a request for a Booking where, for example, we do not have an appropriately licensed vehicle or Driver available, the requested service cannot lawfully be provided, or the requested Journey does not meet our operating requirements.
Once South West Cars has accepted a Booking, the contract described in Clause 2 applies.
South West Cars is responsible for providing the transportation services which are the subject of an accepted Booking. We will arrange for an appropriately licensed Driver and Vehicle to carry out the Journey.
The Journey will be carried out in a TfL-licensed private hire vehicle and driven by an appropriately licensed Driver.
Where you have requested a particular type of vehicle, accessibility requirement or other special requirement, we will use reasonable efforts to accommodate the request, subject to availability and applicable licensing requirements.
Fares are calculated based on distance, time, and traffic conditions. We provide fare estimates upon booking but final fares may vary as explained below. The fare for your Journey is payable to South West Cars. The applicable fare will be communicated to you at the time of Booking or otherwise before the Journey where required.
Payment may be made directly to South West Cars or, where South West Cars permits payment to be made to the Driver, the Driver receives the payment on behalf of South West Cars and acts as South West Cars' agent for the collection of the fare. The Driver does not collect the fare as payment for a separate transportation contract between the Driver and you.
We accept the payment methods made available by South West Cars from time to time, which may include cash, credit or debit card. Corporate accounts are available for business customers.
Where the fare is based on an estimate rather than a fixed agreed fare, the final fare may differ from the estimate where the circumstances of the Journey reasonably justify a change, including changes requested by you or additional waiting, stops, parking or other charges that were disclosed or reasonably applicable. Charges such as airport drop-off fees, congestion charges, and toll charges are additional to the base fare and will be clearly communicated where reasonably practicable.
Electronic receipts are available upon request.
You must provide accurate information when making a Booking, including the correct collection point, destination, date, time and any relevant Passenger or accessibility requirements.
You are responsible for ensuring that you and any Passengers travelling under your Booking are ready at the agreed collection point at the agreed time.
You must behave respectfully towards the Driver and must not engage in abusive, threatening, violent, discriminatory or unlawful behaviour.
You must comply with reasonable safety instructions given by the Driver. You must not damage the Vehicle or cause unnecessary soiling or contamination. Where damage or exceptional cleaning is caused by a Passenger's deliberate or negligent conduct, South West Cars may seek to recover its reasonable resulting costs, subject to applicable law.
Passengers must comply with applicable requirements relating to seat belts, child restraints, luggage and other safety requirements.
We reserve the right to refuse or discontinue a Journey where a Passenger's conduct creates a genuine safety risk or where continuing the Journey would be unlawful. Where a Journey cannot safely or lawfully continue because of Passenger conduct, South West Cars will remain responsible for managing the Booking and any resulting cancellation.
You should be ready to travel at the agreed collection time. Where a Driver arrives at the agreed collection point, the Driver will make reasonable efforts to locate or contact you using the contact details provided with the Booking.
For standard bookings, the Driver will wait for 5 minutes after the scheduled collection time unless a different waiting period has been agreed or communicated at the time of Booking.
For airport collections or other bookings where a longer waiting period applies, the applicable waiting arrangements will be communicated to you where reasonably practicable.
If you do not arrive at the agreed collection point within the applicable waiting period and cannot reasonably be contacted, South West Cars may treat the Booking as a Passenger no-show. Only South West Cars may cancel an accepted Booking with you. Where a Driver is unable to locate you or considers that you are a no-show, the Driver will notify or report the circumstances to South West Cars in accordance with our booking procedures. The Driver does not independently terminate the contract with you.
Unless another amount has been communicated, £10 shall be charged as a no-show charge.
You may cancel your Booking by contacting South West Cars through the available booking channels.
Where you cancel sufficiently in advance, no cancellation charge will normally apply unless a specific cancellation charge was clearly communicated to you when the Booking was made. Where a cancellation charge applies, the amount or basis for calculating it will be communicated to you before or at the time the Booking is accepted, where reasonably practicable.
Unless another amount has been communicated, a cancellation fee of £5 shall be charged for cancellations made less than 15 minutes before pickup.
South West Cars may cancel an accepted Booking where reasonably necessary, including where:
Where we cancel an accepted Booking, we will notify you as soon as reasonably practicable.
Where you have paid South West Cars in advance for a Journey which South West Cars cancels and which has not been provided, we will refund the amount paid for the Journey, subject to any lawful deduction relating to services already provided or other charges properly payable under these Terms and Conditions.
South West Cars will use reasonable efforts to provide the Journey in accordance with the accepted Booking. Journey times are estimates unless a specific arrival or completion time has been expressly agreed.
Traffic congestion, accidents, road closures, adverse weather, public events, emergency restrictions and other circumstances may affect journey times. Where circumstances outside our reasonable control cause delay, we will take reasonable steps to continue providing the Journey or otherwise manage the Booking. You should allow sufficient time for airport, rail, employment, medical or other time-sensitive appointments.
If you request a change to the collection point, destination, route or other material part of the Booking, South West Cars may agree to the change subject to availability, licensing requirements and any applicable additional fare or charges.
South West Cars maintains a procedure for dealing with complaints arising from private hire bookings.
Any complaint concerning a Booking, Driver, Vehicle, fare, Journey or transportation service should be made to South West Cars. You can contact us by telephone (020 8946 5000), or email (info@southwestcars.com) for any complaints or concerns. We will investigate complaints fairly and within a reasonable period. Where appropriate, we may request information from the Driver or other persons involved in providing the Journey to investigate the complaint.
If you believe you have left property in a Vehicle, you should contact South West Cars immediately at 020 8946 5000 to report lost items. Lost property found in our vehicles will be held for 30 days or in accordance with TfL guidelines.
South West Cars is not responsible for property which was not found. Where lost property is recovered, South West Cars will deal with it in accordance with its lost-property procedures and applicable legal and licensing requirements.
We will use reasonable efforts to identify and return recovered property to its owner. You may be required to provide reasonable evidence of ownership before property is released.
South West Cars remains responsible for the provision of the transportation services which are the subject of an accepted Booking. The fact that a Driver carries out the Journey on behalf of South West Cars does not transfer South West Cars' contractual responsibility for the transportation services to the Driver.
Our vehicles are fully insured for passenger liability as required by TfL regulations. Comprehensive insurance covers passenger injury and vehicle damage. However, Passengers are responsible for any damage they cause to the vehicle interior or exterior.
Subject to the above, South West Cars will not be responsible for losses which are not reasonably foreseeable consequences of a breach of contract or which arise solely from circumstances outside our reasonable control, to the extent permitted by law.
We will not be responsible for loss caused by inaccurate or incomplete information supplied by you where that information materially affects the provision of the Journey.
We collect and process personal data in accordance with UK GDPR and our Privacy Policy. Personal information is used solely for providing minicab services. We may share relevant information with drivers and service providers where necessary to manage and fulfil bookings, process payments, handle complaints, protect safety or meet legal obligations. We may record CCTV footage in our vehicles for safety and security purposes.
For full details of our data processing practices, please see our Privacy Policy.
South West Cars will not be in breach of these Terms and Conditions to the extent that performance of an obligation is prevented or materially affected by force majeure or other circumstances outside our reasonable control.
Such circumstances may include, for example:
Where such circumstances affect an accepted Booking, South West Cars will take reasonable steps to manage the Booking and, where reasonably practicable, inform you of material changes or cancellation.
Where South West Cars cancels a prepaid Booking because of circumstances covered by this Clause and the Journey has not been provided, any refund will be dealt with in accordance with Clause 8 and applicable law.
We may update these Terms and Conditions from time to time to reflect changes in law, licensing requirements, our services or our operating arrangements. Material updates will be notified to Passengers or apply only to new bookings made after the revised Terms and Conditions are published. The current version of these Terms and Conditions will be published on our website.
If any provision of these Terms and Conditions is found to be unlawful, invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be treated as modified or removed only to the extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will continue to apply.
No failure or delay by South West Cars in exercising any right under these Terms and Conditions will constitute a waiver of that right.
These Terms and Conditions are governed by English law and shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of England.
South West Cars
519B Garratt Ln, London SW18 4SW
Phone: 020 8946 5000
Email: info@southwestcars.com
© 2026 SouthWest Cars. All rights reserved.