Induction Manual

You are now part of a team dedicated to making travel easy and safe for people in Canterbury and the surrounding areas.

In this book, you will find everything you need to know about having a rewarding experience while working with us. You will learn about your important duties, how to use our driver app, and how to stay safe on the road.

Company values
Cabco was established in 1988 and has a long history and a strong reputation in Canterbury. It is very important for us that customers feel safe and valued and we aim to offer the best possible service while keeping our drivers safe and happy.

At CabCo, we value loyalty and honesty, so we are always transparent with our drivers and reward hardworking and committed individuals. At the same time, we have zero tolerance to unprofessional behaviour and drivers who try to cheat the system.

Our commitment to drivers
We are working hard to maintain a sustainable company growth, enabling us to provide more work for our drivers and better paid jobs. We are investing a considerable amount of money and other necessary resources to offer our drivers a fulfilling experience driving for us.

Your Role

Minimum hours
When renting a CabCo car, you must commit to a minimum of 45 hours weekly. The vehicles we supply represent a significant investment for the company, and as such, they must generate a sufficient amount of revenue to offset their acquisition and operational costs.

Your job
Your role involves transporting passengers in a polite, safe manner to their desired destination, using the shortest/quickest route available. Especially in rush hour or when main routes are closed, the shortest route isn’t always the fastest. Please advise your customer on their options to avoid frustrations and complaints.

Be a team player
We are promoting a sense of community between our drivers. If you are ever in trouble ask for help on the drivers’ WhatsApp group or talk to the dispatch staff.

Please be respectful to all our team members. When communicating with the dispatch team please remember to be polite and well mannered. They are the ones looking out for you and they deserve to be treated with respect. However, if you ever find yourself in an argument or have any frustrations regarding the dispatch team, please communicate them to the manager.

Please note that all the conversations on the Cabco phone lines are recorded.

Be honest
Any attempt to cheat the system will be reviewed and could lead to terminating our collaboration. These includes contacting the customer directly to do off the books jobs, or attempting to bribe dispatch team members for favourable treatment.

Responsibilities

Look after your car
While the maintenance costs for your rented car are covered by CabCo, you still have the responsibility to monitor and report any faults, service warnings and when your tyres are worn close to the legal limit.

Ignoring such faults can lead to unsafe journeys for you and our customers, as well as increased repair costs which, in turn, can lead to penalties for the driver.

In case of accidents you will be required to pay the excess up to the amount laid out in your contract. The rest will be covered by the insurance. Please note that dents and scratches can lead to either insurance claim or repair fees, so please look after your car and drive carefully.

Don’t lose your licence
Driving recklessly or getting into arguments with other drivers is very likely to result in a complaint to the council, which can revoke your Private Hire licence. Moreover, your actions have an impact on our company image and therefore you always have to speak, drive and behave professionally.

Please be mindful not to obstruct traffic when you collect or drop off customers. This can be particularly challenging in rush hours, so try and find the best compromise between following traffic rules and the convenience of our customers.

Smile for the camera
Any speeding tickets or parking fines are entirely your responsibility. You will be notified promptly if we receive one so you have enough time to pay the reduced charge or appeal it.

Please note that tolls and Airport charges are your responsibility to pay and the cost will be split at the end of the week, so don’t forget to write them down and advise our finance team member at the end of the week.

Personal use of CabCo cars is not permitted without prior approval!

Keep your car clean
The inside and outside of your car should always be clean, except for when weather is particularly bad and would require a daily clean. Otherwise please aim to clean it at least once a week. Smoking is strictly forbidden in the car regardless if the windows are closed or opened.
Failure to comply with this rule will likely result in a warning and/or a fine.

Cash or card?
At the beginning of your day, please ensure you have enough cash to give out change. Also please make sure you have a working POS for card payments.

Take a break when you are tired
Remember that being very tired is just as bad as being drunk. There is no amount of money that is worth risking your life for. Please make sure you plan ahead when you have long pre-booked journeys, especially during the night shift.

Procedures & Safety Protocols

Picking up customers
When you arrive to pick up a customer, swipe Arrive on the Driver Companion app. This will send an automated text message letting the customer know you have arrived, and the car make and reg number. We also advise to call them as most clients ignore the text messages.

If the customer does not answer within 10 minutes (or more), you can request a “NO FARE” in the app and the job will be cancelled. You will then be placed in a priority queue so that if possible, your next job will compensate for the wasted time and fuel.

Cash/account jobs
For cash jobs you will have to take payment from the customer when the job is complete. The cost of cash jobs can either be calculated by the meter, or they can have a fixed amount. Jobs marked as “Account” are prepaid by the customer and will be rectified at the end of each week.

School runs are also considered account jobs, however, they are paid by the council monthly, so it typically takes 4 weeks for the money to reach your account.

Taking payment in advance
In most cases the payment is taken at the end of the journey. However, if the collection location is far away from Canterbury, the dispatch team will usually ask for upfront payment and the job will show up as “account”.

Another exception is long journeys, especially during the night or if you feel the customer is not trustworthy. If the customer decides to run off at destination and not pay, there is very little you can do about it, so we strongly advise to request payment in advance on long jobs (anything over £40).

In case of a run away customer, do not attempt to use physical or verbal violence as it can easily be turned against you if and when the police gets involved.

Customer throws up in the car
This scenario is more likely to happen during the night shift. In case a customer throws up and makes a mess in your car, you are eligible to charge them a £100 fee.

Convincing a client to pay the fee is quite a challenge so if you do regular night shifts, have some sick bags available in the car to avoid the mess. Alternatively, you can refuse the job if you feel the client is potentially troublesome.

Car breaks down
If your car breaks down during a job, you must stop in the safest place possible and notify the dispatch team. They will send a new car to pick up the customer. It will be your responsibility to also contact the manager and wait by the car until the car is repaired or towed away.

Do not abandon your car in an unsafe zone as it can result in having your licence revoked.

School Runs

A school run is a recurring account job, paid by the council, involving the transportation of children (often with a range of special needs) to and from school. This often requires multiple pick-up/drop-off locations, so you will need to be very organised to ensure you’re not late for the final destination.

Especially at the beginning, it’s important to plan your route ahead of time, allowing yourself enough time to find the collection addresses and inform the parents about the pick-up times. Once you have a better understanding of traffic patterns and commuting times, you can adjust the pick-up times accordingly.

You may find that some parents develop a habit of being late, potentially delaying the school drop-off. This can be flagged to the council and you could get in trouble even if it’s not your fault. To avoid these situations, it’s essential to establish strict rules with the parents from the beginning. We advise a maximum waiting time of 10 minutes, after which you proceed to your next pick-up point or destination, with or without the child.

In other situations, parents may fail to announce their child is not going to school that day, resulting in unnecessary travel to the pick-up location. In cases where the child is reported absent from school, the council does not cover the taxi fare. To avoid repeated situations like this, the policy is to notify the parent that if they fail to notify in advance and the driver must incur the travel costs 3 times, CabCo will stop collecting the child starting the following day.

Please always ensure you communicate the rules to parents in a polite and professional manner, preferably via text message, which can serve as evidence if necessary.

Many drivers like doing school runs as they offer a steady and predictable income.

Here is a template text message you can use:

Dear [Parent’s Name],

I’m [Your Name], your child’s driver for their school runs with CabCo. I’d like to share a few important guidelines to ensure smooth and timely transportation for all:

I will arrive at your designated pick-up location at the agreed time. To maintain our schedule and fairness to all, I can wait for a maximum of 10 minutes. If your child is not ready within this time, I will need to leave for the next pick-up point.

If your child will not be attending school on a particular day, please inform me at least 2 hours before the scheduled pick-up time. This helps avoid unnecessary and unpaid trips. Please note that the council does not cover trips for absent children.

If I am not informed in advance about your child’s absence and this results in unnecessary travel on 3 occasions, CabCo will stop providing it’s services effective immediately. You will then have to contact the council and explain why you failed to notify the driver.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Payments & Fees

Rental fee and split costs
The driver receives 60% of the total income generated by the cash and account jobs while the company receives the remaining 40%. The specific amounts for cash and account jobs are calculated at the end of each week and a Driver Sheet with the breakdown will be sent over via email. The driver covers the running costs as per the graphic below.

There is no joining fee or admin charge for new CabCo drivers.

Toll charges such as Dartford Crossing and airport drop off/pick up fees are split 50-50, so please remember to report them to the finance team member.

Driver Companion App

Once your account was created and a car was assigned to it, you can download the app on your smart phone, both on Android and iOS.

Once the app is installed, you log in using the password provided via email, or you can choose your own password. After the first log in, the app will your biometrics (fingerprint or face ID) for a faster login.

Please don’t set your status on Online if you are not in the car and ready to start as you may receive a job.

Simply search for Autocab Driver Companion on the App Store and install the app or use one of the links below.

Here is how you can receive a job:

You are the nearest driver and the system automatically assigns the job to you
You bid on a job and you win it. (Please note that bidding on a job only means you are interested in it and it will be rewarded to the closest driver. The price is not affected.)
The dispatch operator assigns the job directly to you. This can happen if you had a very long waiting time, or had a NO FARE job.
Pre-bookings are assigned to drivers in advance. Once the time is close to pick-up, the job will be automatically released. The driver can also release it manually from the Pre bookings menu.

Other important areas you should know about the app are the following:

Main menu > Link Pay

Under Link Pay you have to set up your bank account in the Wallet tab. That is where you can transfer your earnings.
Usually on Mondays you will receive the driver’s sheet and the corresponding debit or credit will be added to your Link Pay. To see how much is outstanding, tap the coins tab.

Top-Right Arrow Menu > Pre-bookings

Here you will see all the details about your pre-bookings. School runs will also show up here. If you swipe Release it will activate the job. If you swipe reject it will delete it. Please only reject a job by contacting the dispatch team so they know to assign a different driver.
if you are offline your pre-bookings will not activate automatically when it’s time to pick up the customer so please be aware and be prepared in advance.

The app is continuously updating and improving with new features, so it is possible that some screens are slightly different.

If you have any further questions please contact the management team or simply ask your colleagues in the WhatsApp group.