Terms & Conditions

1. General

The term “Smart Cabs” shall include its drivers, employees, contractors and agents. These Terms and Conditions, which come into effect on the 11th January 2019 and will remain in force until a revision becomes necessary, shall relate to the conduct of your business with ‘Smart Cabs, on either a cash or credit basis. Up to date copies are available from the ‘Smart Cabs Website’ and Smart Cabs taxis.
Smart Cabs reserves the right to alter or vary these terms and conditions in any respect at its absolute discretion upon notifying the Client of the relevant alterations and of the date upon which such alterations take effect.
Please Note: All calls may be recorded for training purposes.

2. Bookings

a) Bookings may be made by our website, phone call, written letter or via approved third party.
b) Smart Cabs may in its absolute discretion without liability and without giving reason refuse to accept any bookings.
c) All accepted bookings are confirmed at the time of booking. The Client is liable for all charges incurred for the time when a taxi cab is assigned to the booking until the completion of the assignment, or sooner cancellation. In the event of cancellation by the Client or passenger(s), the Client is also liable for such charges as may necessarily be incurred by Smart Cabs consequently upon or in order to implement the cancellation. The liability of Smart Cabs, in the event of our cancellation of a client booking, is set out at 4(d).

3. Charges

The rate of each charge shall be fixed and revised by Smart Cabs from time to time entirely at its discretion. Charges prevailing at any particular time are set out in the tariff card available upon application. Upon any changes in the charges the Client will be advised of the revised tariff indicating the date on which the new tariff takes effect.
Items and basis of charges are:
a) A minimum fixed charge for hiring.
b) A meter charge based on the tariff laid down by the City of Newcastle upon Tyne Council as shown on the taximeter fitted in the taxicab. Meter charges commence at the pick up time requested by the Client or, should no pick up time be specified, upon the arrival of the taxicab, and cease on conclusion of the assignment. Smart Cabs reserve the right to charge Clients where a taxi is supplied but is unable to collect the passenger(s) for whatever reason.
c) Where waiting time in excess of 5 minutes is incurred at the pickup location an additional charge for waiting time shall be levied, calculated in accordance with the tariff as laid down by the City of Newcastle upon Tyne Council.
d) An administrative charge will be levied on the cost of each journey.
e) Special charges may be incurred in particular cases. Such charges will be at the discretion of Smart Cabs but will not be made without prior reference to the Client.

4. Refund and Cancellation

The following applies to journeys booked by phone or via the web booking form, Email and paid for in advance.
a) Any paid taxi journey you wish to cancel in advance will be given a full refund, provided the cancellation is more than 24 hours before the booking.
b) Any taxi journey cancelled less than 24 hours before the booking will be refunded at 50 percent, If the vehicle designated for your booking had not yet been dispatched on the journey. If you do not cancel a vehicle until after it has been dispatched, then there will be no refund. To cancel a booking please call or email us with your booking details. If you do not receive an email from us confirming the cancellation we have not received it. In this case please call our office. Refunds will not be issued in the following circumstances: No refund is made if the passenger does not show up for pre-paid journeys. No responsibilities for costs are to be refunded to any passengers who do not wait for their driver and take alternative transport. All other circumstances where a refund may be possible should be addressed directly with customer services.
c) Refunds will normally take 3 - 5 working days to be processed.

Waiting Time:

We do not charge for the 1st half hour's waiting time after the plane has landed. However if the passenger is stuck in immigration or has lost luggage we would have to charge waiting at £18/hr pro rota.

5. Extent of Smart Cabs Liability

a) Any quoted pick up or journey times are best estimates only and whilst it uses all reasonable efforts to convey passenger(s) to their destinations in the shortest possible time Smart Cabs shall have no liability if a pick up or journey time exceeds any estimate given or otherwise exceeds the Clients or the passenger’s expectations for whatever reason nor shall Smart Cabs have any other liability to the Client or the passenger(s) in connection with the time at which the passenger(s) reach or fail to reach the destination.
b) Smart Cabs shall have no liability for any damage, loss, costs claims or expenses (whether foreseeable or not).
c) It shall be for the Client and/or passenger(s) to ensure that any valuable, unusual or any other items are covered by appropriate insurance. Smart Cabs cannot entertain any claim for loss or damage to any such items.
d) If Smart Cabs cancels a booking it shall have no liability to the Client or intended passenger(s) if it has used its reasonable endeavours to fulfil the booking and to notify the Client of the cancellation.
e) The Client shall notify Smart Cabs of any claim or complaint within one month of the date of the journey or, if later, the first date on which the Client became aware of (or if sooner should have been aware of) the matter.
f) ‘Smart Cabs’ will take reasonable steps to retain property accidentally left in their vehicles and return it to the owner but, cannot accept any claim for loss or damage to any above described items or articles carried in the vehicles they operate or otherwise coming into their possession or control, howsoever caused.
g) ‘Smart Cabs’ requires that all passengers making a journey that connects with another ongoing form of transport, should at the time of making a booking, make ‘Smart Cabs’ operators aware of this requirement, and the passenger should ensure that they leave sufficient time from their requested pick up time to ensure that they arrive in time for trains, buses, coaches and airport departures. It is recommended that international flights should be at least 2 hours, with ships and domestic flights at least 1 hour before the scheduled departure time, or such other time as may have been specified by the relevant third-party travel company, coach or bus operator, shipping company or airport. ‘Smart Cabs’ will not accept any liability whatsoever for customers who fail to allow acceptable times for their journeys to further connections, or, if the customer fails to advise ‘Smart’ operators at the time of booking, that there is a further connection to be made.
i) In the unlikely event that smart cabs vehicle breaks down / is involved in an accident or traffic delays while going to pick up / drop off a customer, smart cabs will not be held liable for any ongoing incurring cost or losses including but not limited to any cancellation or missed flight/train.

6. Applicable Law

The law of England shall apply in all disputes.

7. TERMS FOR ACCOUNTS

a) This completed form, sent to Smart Cabs, is an offer by the company or business named on the attached Credit Account Application (hereafter referred to as the ‘Client’) to contract with Smart Cabs for the provision of its services on an account basis. A contract will be concluded only upon the issue by Smart Cabs to the Client of written confirmation that the application has been accepted.
b) Smart Cabs reserves the right in its absolute discretion, and without giving reasons, to reject this application and to decline to enter into a contract.
c) A contract shall only be concluded on the terms and conditions laid out herein. The contract shall be personal to both parties and absolutely no assignable.
d) The Client shall notify Smart Cabs of any change in the particulars shown on the Credit Application Form. Alterations take effect on the date shown in a confirmation notice issued by Smart Cabs to the Client.
e) Smart Cabs will accept no bookings unless the Client account number is quoted. Smart Cabs is entitled to assume that any person who correctly quotes the correct account number and Client name has authority to make booking(s) on behalf of the Client. The Client is solely responsible for safeguarding the confidentiality of such numbers and shall be liable for the costs of all bookings made by any such person whether or not authorized by it.

8. Accounts and Payments

a) Invoices are issued to the Clients address shown on the Credit Application Form. A statement of account will be issued at the end of each month.
b) Settlement in full is due no later than the number of days agreed Credit period after the invoice date.
c) Smart Cabs reserves the right to charge interest on unpaid accounts in accordance with the “Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998”
d) The Client shall pay Smart Cabs any reasonable expenses (including those charged by any debt collection agency) together with all legal and court costs incurred in the collection of any overdue account and the minimum charge in this respect shall be £10.00.
e) Payment is by cheque payable to Smart Cabs or by such other methods as may be agreed in writing by Smart Cabs such as BACS.
f) Queries must be notified in writing to Smart Cabs within 14 days of receipt of the account after which date the Client shall not be entitled to dispute the amount save for manifest or gross error.

9. Termination of Account

a) The account is terminable by either party in writing giving seven days notice at any time without reason being given and may also with immediate effect be terminated by Smart Cabs without notice at any time if any amount due is not paid by the Client.
b) Upon termination of the account for whatever reason all sums payable to or chargeable by Smart Cabs or otherwise appearing on the Clients account shall become immediately due and payable in full if not already due and payable.

‘Smart Cabs’ makes every effort to ensure that the information contained in these terms and conditions is correct, fair and compliant with all relevant Statutory requirements of English Law and Regulations of the EU applicable at the time of issue. Nothing contained in these Terms and Conditions will affect your Statutory Rights. if there is any aspect of these terms and conditions that you would like to be explained to you further, please contact us on 0191 4862005 , we will be happy to explain.