Transport for Refugee and Asylum Support Services

Booking for Someone Who Isn’t You

Almost every booking system assumes the person paying is the person travelling. In this work they are almost never the same person, and the gap between them is where bookings go wrong — the confirmation goes to a caseworker, the driver rings a number nobody is holding, and a passenger stands at the wrong door.

So we split it properly:

• You hold the booking. The confirmation, the reference, any changes and the invoice all come to you.
• The passenger gets what they need to travel — the driver’s name, the vehicle, and a number that reaches a person. Nothing else.
• The driver gets the operational minimum — a name, the addresses and the time. Not the reason for the journey, and not anything about who the passenger is.
• Tell us who to ring first if there’s a problem. Often that should be you rather than the passenger, and it is worth deciding at booking rather than at 8am on the day.

When the passenger can’t be reached

This is the failure that actually happens, so here is what we do about it rather than hoping.

• A phone with no credit can usually still receive a call. Give us the number anyway, and tell us if it may not be answered.
• Give us a second contact — you, a colleague, a support worker, whoever will pick up.
• Be specific about the pickup point. Which door, which side of the building, what the driver will be looking at. A postcode is not a meeting point.
• Tell us what to do if nobody appears. Wait and call you, or stand down after an agreed time? We will follow whatever you decide. Without an instruction, drivers call us and we call you.

When a Journey Can’t Be Late

Some of these journeys have consequences attached that an ordinary airport run does not. An appointment missed can mean a rescheduled hearing, a delayed decision, or a service withdrawn for non-attendance. We treat those bookings differently.

• Give us the time the passenger must arrive by, not a pickup time. We work backwards allowing for expected traffic on that road on that date.
• We tell you honestly whether it is comfortable, tight or not achievable — before you book. If a journey cannot be done in the time available, saying so early is more useful to you than a vehicle that turns up late.
• Flag it as time-critical when you book and it is dispatched with more margin.
• Build in the return where the appointment has no predictable end. An open return, or a number to call, is usually better than a fixed time that will be wrong.
• If we are running late, you hear it from us first, with enough notice to make a call about it.

We do not need to know what the appointment is, and we will not ask.

What We Ask For, and What We Don’t

A booking record can say a great deal about a person without meaning to. We keep ours to the journey.

What we ask for

• Pickup and destination addresses, with the specific door or entrance
• Date, time, and any time the passenger must arrive by
• A name to give the driver, and a contact number
• Number of passengers and luggage, and any accessibility requirement
• Your details as the booker, and a purchase order or cost centre if you use one

What we don’t ask for, record, or want

• Immigration status, in any form
• Home Office, case or client reference numbers
• Nationality, ethnicity, religion or language background — beyond what is practically needed to communicate about the journey
• The reason for the journey, including the type of appointment
• Anything about the passenger’s circumstances. If it is in a note we do not need, we would rather it was not sent.

What happens to what we do hold

• Bookings are not categorised by service type, organisation type or anything about the passenger, and nothing carries between bookings unless you ask us to save it.
• The driver sees a name, the addresses and the time. That is the whole of the job sheet.
• Records are held for [X] as required for accounting and licensing, then deleted. Detail in our privacy policy.
• If anyone contacts us asking about a booking — including someone presenting as an official — we do not confirm or discuss it. We take their details, and we contact you. [CONTENT TEAM: this must match the documented internal procedure, and that procedure must exist and be known to office staff and drivers before this sentence publishes.]

Language and Staying in Touch

A passenger who does not share a language with the driver is an ordinary situation, not a problem, provided the booking is set up for it. What does not work is discovering it at the kerb.

• Tell us at booking if the passenger may not speak English, and we will plan around it rather than relying on the moment.
• Written beats spoken. A text or WhatsApp message can be translated by the person receiving it; a phone call cannot. Where a passenger has a phone, a message with the driver’s name, the vehicle and the time is usually more use than a call.
• Nominate an English-speaking contact — usually you — and we will route anything that needs explaining through them instead of through the passenger.
• Keep it to what the journey needs. The driver needs to identify the passenger and get them to an address. Neither of those requires a conversation.
• Our team speaks [LIST LANGUAGES HONESTLY — ENGLISH ONLY IS A PERFECTLY GOOD ANSWER]. We do not provide interpreters and would not present ourselves as a substitute for one.
• Written confirmations are in English. If that is a barrier, send them to the booker and we will keep the passenger’s message to the essentials.

Accounts, Invoicing and Compliance

If you are assessing RushXO as a supplier, this is the section you came for.

Booking and billing

• Account booking for organisations, with journeys invoiced rather than paid at the point of travel: [CONFIRM AVAILABILITY AND TERMS].
• Purchase order and cost centre references carried on the booking and shown on the invoice: [CONFIRM].
• Consolidated invoicing across multiple journeys and multiple bookers, at [FREQUENCY], with a breakdown by [COST CENTRE / SERVICE / BOOKER].
• Payment terms [X DAYS], and a named contact for billing queries.
• Multiple authorised bookers on one account, each able to book without seeing each other’s journeys: [CONFIRM].

Evidence we can supply for your records

• Private hire operator licence number and issuing authority
• Driver and vehicle licensing arrangements, described separately from the operator licence
• DBS policy, described exactly as it operates
• Public liability and motor insurance certificates
• Data protection and retention statement, and ICO registration
• Safeguarding policy [ONLY IF ONE EXISTS — SEE BELOW]
• Equality and complaints policies

We are happy to complete supplier questionnaires and to be assessed through a framework or tender process. See also business and account travel.

Young People and Safeguarding

Journeys involving unaccompanied children or young people are arranged only under a written commissioning agreement that sets out who hands over at each end, who receives the young person, and what happens if that person is not there.

We will not accept these bookings on an ad hoc basis, and we would treat an operator who did as a warning sign. If you need this and do not have an agreement in place with us, call and we will tell you honestly whether we can do it.

Airport and Arrival Transfers

A first journey in an unfamiliar country, often at the end of a very long day, is the journey most worth pre-booking and the one where a name board matters most. We cover all five London airports and regional airports on request — see London airport transfers.

• Meet & greet in arrivals, with a name board, on eligible bookings. If a passenger has never used an airport, a driver standing where they can be seen is worth more than any set of instructions.
• Tell us the name exactly as it appears on the travel document, and tell us if the passenger uses a different one day to day — we will put the right one on the board.
• Allow for long waits. Border processing can take considerably longer than a standard transfer allows for. Where flight monitoring is available the transfer follows the actual landing time, and eligible bookings include complimentary waiting, subject to our booking terms. For arrivals where a longer wait is likely, book extended waiting from the start rather than paying for it in increments.
• Family groups. Give us passenger and luggage numbers separately — families arriving may have very little luggage or a great deal, and both change the vehicle. Group and 8-seater transfers where available.
• Odd hours. These flights land at times that suit airlines rather than people. Pre-booking fixes the price and the vehicle regardless of the hour.
• Onward travel to anywhere in the UK in one leg, rather than an airport transfer followed by a train and a second taxi — UK-wide private hire.

Health and Appointment Travel

Hospital, clinic, dental and mental health appointments; school admissions meetings; legal appointments; and registrations of various kinds. These are ordinary journeys with two features worth planning for.

• The end time is often unknown. An open return, or a number for the passenger or escort to call when they are ready, usually works better than a booked collection time that will be wrong.
• Hospital sites are large. Give us the department and entrance, not just the hospital. “Main entrance” is frequently not where anyone wants to be collected.
• An escort, support worker or family member can travel in the same vehicle — tell us so we size it properly.
• Repeat appointments can be booked as a series where the pattern is known.

Where to Get Advice, and Help With Travel Costs

We are a transport company and this is outside what we do — which is exactly why it is worth saying.

Advice

Immigration advice in the UK is regulated. It should come from a solicitor, a barrister, or an adviser regulated by the statutory regulator for immigration advice — not from a transport company, and not from an unregulated intermediary charging fees. If someone is charging for immigration advice, it is reasonable to ask what regulates them and to check. Established organisations including [VERIFY AND NAME CURRENT ORGANISATIONS AND URLS] provide free information and can point to regulated advisers.

Help with travel costs

Depending on circumstances, help with the cost of travel to healthcare appointments may be available through NHS schemes, and support with travel to certain appointments may be available to people receiving asylum support. We cannot tell you whether any of it applies to a particular person — but it is worth asking before paying for a journey privately. A caseworker, the relevant support helpline, or the department you are attending can usually say.

We mention this because we would rather be useful than sell you a journey somebody else would have paid for.

Accessibility and Travel Requirements

Tell us before booking rather than hoping on the day. What we can arrange depends on the requirement, the location and the date.

• Step-free or easier access into and out of the vehicle
• A folding wheelchair, walking frame or other mobility aid travelling with the passenger
• Extra time at pickup and drop-off, so nobody is rushed
• An escort, carer or family member travelling in the same vehicle
• A specific drop-off point relative to a particular entrance
• Assistance with bags or to the door

Vehicles, Fares and Terms

These apply to every RushXO journey rather than to this page in particular, so they live in one place and are kept current there.

• Vehicles and luggage — how many passengers and how many cases each vehicle actually takes.
• How our pricing works — what a quote is built from. Where fixed pricing applies, the fare agreed at booking is the fare you pay: no surge, and no recalculation because the traffic was worse than expected.
• Waiting, changes and cancellations — what’s included, and what can be changed and by when. Worth reading if appointments in your service are frequently rescheduled at short notice.

Fares are the same for these journeys as for any other. We do not price differently because of who is travelling, in either direction.

Where We Travel

Journeys start in London and the South East and run nationwide. All five London airports in full, plus regional airports quoted individually. Long-distance travel in one leg — the M1, M6, M4 and M40 corridors most often — and rail terminals including St Pancras International, Euston, King’s Cross and Liverpool Street. See UK-wide private hire and train station transfers.

If your journey isn’t obviously on that list, ask. Long and unusual routes are quoted individually and we’ll tell you plainly if it isn’t something we can cover well.

How to Book

If you’re booking regularly

Open an account. You get a named contact, invoicing against a purchase order or cost centre, multiple authorised bookers, and the compliance pack for your supplier records. Call "020 8888 9988" or request an account.

If it’s a one-off

1. Addresses, with the specific door

   Including the department or entrance at large sites. A postcode is not a meeting point.

2. When the passenger needs to arrive

   Rather than a pickup time, if the journey is time-critical. We’ll work backwards and tell you whether it works.

3. Who is travelling

   A name for the driver, passenger and luggage numbers, and anyone travelling as an escort.

4. Who to contact

   The passenger’s number, a second contact, and who we should ring first if something goes wrong.

5. Anything about communication

   Whether the passenger may not speak English, and whether a message works better than a call.

6. What to do if nobody appears

   Wait and call you, or stand down after an agreed time. Your decision, and we’ll follow it.

7. Confirm the quote

   Where fixed pricing applies, the quoted fare is the fare you pay.

Why Organisations Book With Us

What we don’t claim: RushXO is a commercial private hire operator. We are not a charity, we are not part of or contracted to any immigration process, we are not regulated to give immigration advice and we do not give it, and we make no claim to specialist expertise in anyone’s circumstances. What we offer is a journey that turns up when it said it would, invoiced to you, with a record that holds no more than it needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Transport Services Statement

About This Page

Published 26 July 2026 · Last reviewed 26 July 2026 · Next review due 26 July 2026

This page is reviewed at least twice a year, and the organisations and schemes it signposts are re-verified at each review, because arrangements in this sector change. Anything on it that is out of date is a mistake rather than a policy — tell us and we’ll fix it.

RushXO [REGISTERED COMPANY NAME], company number [NUMBER], [REGISTERED ADDRESS]. Private hire operator licence [NUMBER], issued by [LICENSING AUTHORITY]. ICO registration [NUMBER].

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