In short
- Ask who is driving, and get the name and registration in advance. Any reputable operator will supply both.
- Check the operator is licensed and ask which authority licenses them. It is a fair question and the answer should be immediate.
- Agree a fixed return time and place rather than leaving it open-ended.
- Confirm what happens if the destination changes. The answer should involve contacting you.
- Agree the rules with your child in advance, not with the driver on the night.
Questions to ask any operator
These apply to whoever you book with. A firm that hesitates over any of them is telling you something useful.
- Who licenses you, and what is your operator licence number? Private hire operators are licensed by a local authority. The answer should be immediate and verifiable.
- Will I get the driver's name and the vehicle registration before the night? The answer should be yes, as a matter of course.
- Who is your point of contact — me, or the passengers? For a booking involving under-18s, it should be you.
- What is your policy on alcohol in the vehicle? There should be one, and it should be no.
- What happens if the passengers ask to go somewhere else? The answer should be that they contact the booking adult.
- Are your vehicles fitted with seat belts for every passenger? Obvious, and worth confirming for larger vehicles.
Things to agree with your child, not the driver
The driver enforces what has been booked. The expectations are a conversation for you to have beforehand.
- The return time. Agreed in advance and booked, rather than decided on the night.
- The pick-up point. A specific spot, agreed with the venue in mind.
- Who is travelling. A named list, so the driver knows who they are waiting for.
- What happens if plans change. They call you, you call the operator. Not the other way round.
- That the vehicle goes where it was booked to go. Not somewhere else agreed in the car park.
Splitting the cost between families
The most common arrangement, and the cheapest per student. One parent books an eight-seater or a minibus, several families split the cost, and the group travels together.
It has a safety benefit as well as a financial one: the whole group arrives together and leaves together, rather than scattering across several vehicles at the end of the night. Nominate one adult as the point of contact so the operator is not fielding calls from six different parents.
| Arrangement | Vehicle | Per student |
|---|---|---|
| One family, one or two students | Saloon or MPV | Highest |
| Three or four families sharing | 8-seater | Much lower |
| Six or more families sharing | Minibus | Lowest |
| School-organised | Coach | Set by the school |
The return is the leg that matters
Getting to a prom is straightforward. Getting home from a venue at eleven at night, when every parent in the year group is trying to arrange the same thing simultaneously, is not.
A pre-booked collection at an agreed time and place removes the problem entirely, and a fair number of families book only that leg, dropping off themselves. If you do one thing, do that one.
When to book
Prom season in Kent runs across a few weeks in June and July, and it competes directly with weddings for the same vehicles.
| When you book | What is available |
|---|---|
| Easter | Everything. Normal prices. |
| May | Most things. Popular Friday and Saturday dates going. |
| Early June | Larger vehicles on peak dates often already gone. |
| The week of the prom | Very little. Genuinely. |
If something goes wrong on the night
Have the operator's number saved, not just the driver's. If your child cannot reach the driver, you should be able to reach the office.
Agree in advance what your child should do if they cannot find the vehicle: stay at the venue, contact you, and wait somewhere staffed rather than walking off to find the car. It is a two-minute conversation that removes the scenario everyone worries about.