Taxi Transport for Law Firms and Their Clients

What does confidentiality mean in the CabsOn driver code? Every driver on the CabsOn platform signs a driver code of conduct before their first accepted booking. Alongside the obvious clauses on safe driving, vehicle standards and customer service, the code contains a written confidentiality obligation: drivers must not discuss the identity of passengers, journey origin, journey destination or overheard conversation with any third party, and must not photograph or record passengers or documents. Breaches are grounds for immediate removal from the platform. We do not pretend this replaces a solicitor-client privilege discussion or a signed NDA — no minicab operator in the UK can offer that. What it does mean is that the driver picking up your client at a psychiatric expert's clinic or from the Royal Courts of Justice understands that discretion is part of the job, and knows the consequences of a complaint. If your firm needs a countersigned confidentiality agreement covering a specific matter or a specific driver panel, our corporate accounts team will arrange it in writing before the first booking. ## How does the fixed-fare quote work, and why does that matter for legal clients? When your booker enters a pickup and destination in the corporate portal, we return a quoted fare before the ride is confirmed. That number is what the firm pays and what appears on the invoice line for that matter. It does not move because of traffic, a longer route or a wait outside chambers within the included wait allowance. If the client changes the destination mid-journey we quote the difference and confirm before proceeding. For legal work this matters more than for a general corporate account. Many of the passengers a law firm books for are vulnerable — personal injury claimants, family law clients, medical negligence claimants attending independent expert assessments. They are already anxious. A metered fare that ends higher than they expected turns a solved logistics problem back into a complaint the fee-earner has to handle. Fixed-fare quoting removes that failure mode. ## How does matter-code allocation flow through to billing? At the point of booking, the authorised booker enters a matter reference — a case number, client-matter code, cost centre or free-text label depending on how your firm structures billing. That reference is stored against the ride and appears on the monthly PDF invoice line-by-line: date, passenger name (or initials if you prefer), pickup, destination, fare, VAT, matter code. Costs clerks download the invoice as PDF or CSV from the corporate portal, filter by matter code and drop the disbursements straight into the client bill. Firms using Elite, LEAP, Clio or ProClaim typically map the CSV directly into their disbursement import. We do not currently ship native integrations with those systems, but the CSV structure has been shaped with import-friendly columns after conversations with firms already doing this. ## What happens on VAT and HMRC compliance? CabsOn is run by CABSON TECHNOLOGIES LTD and is not currently VAT-registered, so no VAT is added to fares. Every ride booked on a corporate account is invoiced at the UK standard rate of VAT (20 percent) with our VAT number printed on the invoice, itemised per ride, in a format that satisfies HMRC input-tax record-keeping requirements. Firms recover the VAT in their normal VAT return where the ride qualifies, and pass the gross fare through as a disbursement on the client bill where it is genuinely a client cost. The line between reclaimable input VAT and a disbursement on the client account is a decision for your practice manager — we simply provide the underlying invoice detail in a form that supports either treatment. If HMRC or the SRA asks for the audit trail on a specific ride two years later, that record remains available in your corporate portal invoice archive. ## Can we book rides for clients who do not have the CabsOn app? Yes — and this is how nearly every legal firm uses us. The authorised booker at the firm creates the booking on the client's behalf in the corporate portal, entering the client's name and mobile number. The client receives an SMS with the driver's name, the car registration, the estimated arrival time and a live tracking link they can open in any browser. No app install, no account, no card details from the client. For older clients or clients in distress we recommend the booker calls to confirm the driver is on the way — the portal shows the same live status the client sees. If a client misses the pickup or refuses to travel, the booker can cancel from the portal; cancellation policy is applied to the firm's account, never chased against the client. ## What about court timings and same-day changes? Court lists move. Hearings overrun, applications get bumped, a settlement lands at 11am and suddenly nobody needs the 2pm ride. The corporate portal supports amendments and cancellations up to the pickup window, and pre-books rides for a scheduled time with a driver assigned in advance for the busy periods around court sitting hours. We are honest here: every ride needs at least three hours' notice, so book a Monday 8:30 court run in central London or Manchester the day before. For court arrivals we strongly recommend booking the night before with a 20-minute buffer against the hearing time. This is the same guidance a hotel concierge would give — plan the ride like you would plan the train. ## How do larger firms handle multiple offices and multiple bookers? Firms with offices in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol run a single CabsOn corporate account with department cost centres, and add authorised bookers per office. Each booker sees only their office's bookings by default, and the finance lead sees everything. Spending limits can be set per department where the firm wants a cap — for example, an assistant booking claimant transport under a personal injury cost centre with a maximum spend threshold that requires partner approval to exceed. The Approvals workflow in the corporate portal handles this: rides above the threshold pause, an email goes to the named approver, and the ride confirms once approved. Firms not wanting approvals can turn the feature off entirely and run a flat account. We build the portal around the fact that legal firms differ enormously in how tightly they want to control internal spend. ## Which UK cities does CabsOn cover for legal transport? Our strongest coverage is Manchester, London, Birmingham and Leeds, with growing coverage across the North West and Midlands. We regularly move clients between chambers, courts, expert clinics and firm offices in those cities. For work outside our direct coverage we can source rides through a partner network under the same fixed-fare and invoicing terms — the corporate portal will show a slightly longer confirmation window when that applies, and the fare is confirmed before the ride is booked. If your firm is planning a specific hearing in a city we do not routinely cover — a Supreme Court hearing, a specialist tribunal — the account team will confirm capacity ahead of the date rather than leaving you to discover a gap on the morning. ## How does this compare to booking directly with Uber for Business or Addison Lee? We recommend firms compare us honestly against the alternatives. Uber for Business is stronger on international coverage, has a larger driver pool in London at peak times, and its interface will feel familiar. Addison Lee has a long track record with law firms in the City and runs a chauffeur-grade fleet at chauffeur pricing. Both are credible choices. Where CabsOn tends to win: fixed-fare quoting before booking (Uber prices vary with surge), matter-code allocation as a first-class field rather than a comment, the confidentiality clause being written into the driver code rather than assumed, and a monthly account price point that lines up with claimant work rather than partner travel. Where the alternatives may win: a firm doing a lot of very-short-notice bookings in central London during peak surge should test both. We would rather you make an informed choice than switch and regret it.