1. Introduction

  • Fair Trade Fares Ltd (FTF) is an online private hire car booking company based in Edinburgh.
  • FTF has the required taxi booking office license (or the equivalent) for the City of Edinburgh and performs all required regulatory and associated tasks and functions, including making arrangements for the invitation and acceptance of bookings and operating in compliance with all applicable UK regulations.
  • FTF owns the Driver App (“The App”) which can connect private hire vehicle drivers to potential customers.
  • FTF is prepared to offer the use of the App to drivers subject to these Terms and Conditions. Please read these Terms and Conditions carefully as they will govern our Agreement and how we work together.

2. Definitions

“App” means the Driver App.

“App Services” means the provision of the App and other services as set out in clause 5.

“Booking” means a Customer Journey request once accepted by the Driver.

“Council Licensing Conditions” means the City of Edinburgh Council Licensing Conditions for Taxis and Private Cars, Taxis and Private Hire car Drivers.

“Customer” means a customer who books a journey using the App.

“Customer Journey” means a journey requested by a Customer and which may result in a Booking.

“Driver” means you, the driver of a licensed private hire vehicle operating as an independent contractor in Edinburgh who wishes to be able to use the App subject to these Terms and Conditions.

“Driver Services” means the provision of taxi services by the Driver to Customers who are booked using the App.

“Fare” means the fare charged to the Customer in accordance with clause 9.

“FTF” and “we” or “us” means Fair Trade Fares Ltd, a company incorporated in Scotland and with its registered office at suite 49a Bonnington Bond, 2 Anderson Place, Edinburgh EH6 5NP.

“Service Fee” means the fee charged by FTF for the provision of the App and the App Services, as set out in clause 10.

3. Driver Status

3.1. In providing the Driver Services it is expressly agreed that the Driver is acting as an independent contractor and not as an employee. As a self-employed supplier, the Driver therefore acknowledges that they are neither an employee of FTF nor a worker within the meaning of any employment rights legislation. The Driver and FTF acknowledge that there is not a partnership or joint venture between them.

3.2. Nothing in this Agreement shall make the Driver an agent of FTF and the Driver shall not have any right or power to enter into contracts on behalf of FTF with third parties or to bind us in any way or represent yourself as our employee, worker, agent, legal partner or authorised representative. Unless specifically authorised to do so by FTF, the Driver shall not have any authority to incur any expenditure in the name of FTF.

4. Agency and FTF Status

4.1. In providing the App Services, FTF will perform specific tasks as an agent on your behalf.

4.2. FTF is not a party to any contract you will have with a Customer. When you confirm that you wish to accept a Customer Journey request as sent to you via the App, your agreement is communicated to the Customer by FTF (as a disclosed agent). This will provide a direct contract between you and the Customer.

5. App Services

5.1. FTF will provide the following services:

5.2. the technology to connect and contract with Customers for providing Driver Services (the App)

5.3. Payment collection and payment processing services (including issuing invoices and receipts on your behalf) to charge Fares to Customers and to pay these into your bank account.

6. Use of the App and the App Services

6.1. You can decide where and when to use the App. However, if you are not available to provide the Driver Services, you agree to log off the App until you are available. If we find that you are unavailable to provide a Customer Journey, you may be automatically logged out of the App but you can log back in once you are available.

6.2. Customer Journey requests will be notified to you via the App. This will include the Customer’s requested destination, pick-up location, and rating. You can decide whether or not to accept the Booking.

6.3. The Customer will also be given identifying information about you, including your first name, photo, location, and vehicle information.

6.4. The map provided to drivers will display the most efficient route however, Drivers are responsible for choosing the most effective and safe route to reach the Journey destination.

6.5. Once you have confirmed that you are willing to take a Booking, you may still cancel your provision of such Customer Journey in certain circumstances, both whilst traveling to the pick-up and upon arrival.

6.6. Once the Customer Journey has been completed, you will be asked to provide a rating to the Customer, who will also be able to give you a rating.

6.7. FTF is not responsible for any act or omission by the Customer, including any injury to you or damage caused to your vehicle. We may in certain circumstances, be able to charge the Customer a cleaning fee on your behalf.

7. Driver Requirements

7.1. The Driver must ensure their motor vehicle has a valid MOT and Road Tax.

7.2. The Driver must obtain at their own cost appropriate insurance which shall remain in force in respect of the provision of the Driver Services for as long as the Driver is using the App. The Driver confirms their motor vehicle insurance provider has been notified of the Driver Services being provided. The Driver acknowledges that having the incorrect motor vehicle insurance can invalidate their policy and accepts full responsibility for any legal action taken with regard to this.

7.3. The Driver will immediately inform FTF if they are involved in any accident while performing the Driver Services or are arrested in respect of a motoring offence (including but not limited to dangerous driving, careless driving, or driving while under the influence of drunk or drugs).

7.4. You shall abide by any applicable laws and regulations (including those related to Customers with disabilities or service animals) when providing the Driver Services.

7.5. Without limiting the generality of clause 7.4, you must comply with the Council Licensing Conditions, including

        7.5.1. holding a valid driver's badge

        7.5.2. having valid car insurance covering public liability

        7.5.3. passenger assistance and having courtesy towards them

        7.5.4. driver behaviour

        7.5.5. dress code

7.6. You are responsible for any obligations or liabilities to a Customer or any third party that may arise from a Customer Journey including but not limited to any related to their safety and wellbeing.

7.7. You may only provide the Customer Journeys using a vehicle identified on your account with us. Your vehicle must be suitable for use with the App (as may be varied from time to time), properly registered, licensed and suitable to use as a private-hire vehicle, and maintained in good condition in compliance with the related industrial, legal safety and maintenance standards.

7.8. You will be responsible for any surcharges (e.g. road taxes and tolls, congestion charges, and tunnel, parking or airport charges), and any taxes and fees that may be incurred as a result of the provision of a Customer Journey unless they are born by the Customer in accordance with clause 9.4.

7.9. You will provide us upon request with all documentation (including renewals) reflecting the above prior to and during your use of the App.

7.10. You will not contact any Customer or use any of their personal information for any reason other than for the provision of that Customer Journey.

7.11. Your Driver account is personal to you. It cannot be licensed, shared, or modified. You hereby agree to notify us in the event that any third party has or may have accessed your account and you will keep your login details confidential at all times.

8. Equipment

8.1. You must supply a smartphone which is suitable for operating the App and ensure that it is sufficiently charged and subject to a current mobile phone subscription which enables you to access voice and data services at all times while this Agreement is in force.

8.2. You will download and install, or permit us to download and install, the App and will also apply any and all new versions, revisions and fixes to such software as may be required from time to time.

9. Fares

9.1. Fares will be calculated, collected, and paid as part of the App Services provided by FTF.

9.2. Fares for Customer Journeys are calculated based on the Fare Table For Taxis provided by the City of Edinburgh Council and available on the City of Edinburgh Council website. A predetermined discount will be applied to the total Fare at the end of each journey.

9.3. The Fare does not include any tip paid by the Customer. Customers may pay tips, either directly to you in cash or through the App. We will collect tips paid through the App on your behalf and remit them to you, without applying any Service Fee to them.

9.4. Any surcharges incurred by you as part of a Customer Journey (such as road, bridge, ferry, tunnel or airport charges and tolls) will be covered by the Customer in addition to the Fare.

9.5. Fares and other amounts we collect from Customers on your behalf will be remitted to you on at least a weekly basis, less the Service Fee payable under clause 10 below.

9.6. Fares may be adjusted as follows:

       9.6.1. Should a Customer request an adjustment to the Fare we have charged (for reasons such as an inefficient route having been taken), we will request your authorization to adjust the Fare accordingly, for which a time limit may apply: you hereby agree that you will consider such requests and shall not knowingly overcharge Customers;

       9.6.2. you hereby authorize us to adjust or completely cancel the Fare at our discretion and without checking with you in advance, in more serious situations, such as alleged fraud or charges for Customer Journeys that did not take place;

       9.6.3. if a Customer cancels their Booking prior to your arrival, we may charge that Customer a cancellation fee on your behalf, which you will receive less than the Service Fee.

11. Receipts

11.1. On completion of a Customer Journey, we will automatically send an electronic receipt to the Customer on your behalf. It will include a breakdown of the amounts charged and certain information about you and that Journey (including your details and the route taken). If you think a mistake has been made; you should let us know in writing within 3 business days after the Journey took place, otherwise we will have no further responsibility. We will also issue an invoice on your behalf to the Customer. You and the Customer can download the invoice in the Driver/Customer portal.

12. Taxes

12.1. The Driver must comply with the applicable laws and regulations concerning tax registration, calculation and remittance obligations for each Customer Journey, and provide FTF on request with all relevant tax information (including any valid VAT numbers belonging to you, as required by law). You are responsible for your own taxes, including your own income.

12.2. For the purpose of this clause 12, references to “tax” include VAT, social security premiums and contributions and similar charges.

13. Confidentiality

13.1. Confidential information (the "Confidential Information") refers to any data or information relating to FTF, whether business or personal, which would reasonably be considered to be private or proprietary to FTF and that is not generally known and where the release of that Confidential Information could reasonably be expected to cause harm to FTF

13.2. The Driver agrees that they will not disclose, divulge, reveal, report or use, for any purpose, any confidential information which the Driver has obtained, except as authorised by FTF or as required by law. The obligations of confidentiality will apply for as long as the Driver has access to the App, except in the case of any Confidential Information which is a trade secret in which case those obligations will last indefinitely.

13.3. All written and oral information and material disclosed or provided by FTF to the Driver under this Agreement is Confidential Information regardless of whether it was provided before or after the date of this Agreement or how it was provided to the Drive.

14. Intellectual Property

14.1. FTF owns and reserves all rights, titles, and interests in and to the App and the App Services. We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable, non-sub-licensable license to install and use the App on your device solely for providing the Driver Services. This license will terminate the moment you permanently stop using the App and App Services.

14.2. Except as provided in this clause 14, you obtain no rights from us or our licensors to the App or the App Services. You must not attempt to:

       14.2.1. Modify, alter, tamper with, repair, or otherwise create derivative works of any software included in the App or the App Services.

       14.2.2. Reverse engineer, disassemble or decompile the App or the App Services or apply any other process or procedure to derive the source code of any software included in the App or the AppServices.

       14.2.3. access or use the App or the App Services in a way intended to avoid incurring fees or exceeding usage limits or quotas.

       14.2.4. resell or sublicense the App or the App Services.

14.3. The license granted to you is conditional on your continued compliance with these Terms and Conditions, and will immediately and automatically terminate if you do not comply with any of the terms or conditions therein. You will not assert, nor will you authorize, assist, or encourage any third party to assert, against us or any of our affiliates, customers, vendors, business partners, or licensors, any patent infringement or other intellectual property infringement claim regarding the App or any App Services you have used. You are not allowed to use any of our trademarks, names or logos without our prior written consent.

15. Disclaimer

15.1. The App and the App Services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. The App and App Services may be subject to limitations, delays, and other problems inherent in the use of electronic communications and are not guaranteed to be available or error-free or to result in any Journeys. We make no representations,warranties or guarantees as to the actions or inactions of the Customers who may request or actually receive the Driver Services from you, or the availability of the App or the App Services.


15.2. We and our affiliates and licensors make no representations or warranties of any kind, whether express, implied,statutory or otherwise regarding the App or App Services. Except to the extent prohibited by law, we and our affiliates and licensors disclaim all warranties, including any implied warranties of merchantability, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or quiet enjoyment, and any warranties arising out of any course of dealing or usage of trade.

16. Warranties

16.1. You warrant that:
     16.1.1. you are a self-employed independent Driver in business on your own account

     16.1.2. you have the right to reside and work in the United Kingdom and have all necessary visas, licenses and permits allowing you to do so

      16.1.3. you hold, and will continue to hold, valid motor vehicle insurance in respect of the motor vehicle and will notify FTF immediately should this cease to be the case

      16.1.4. you will account to HMRC and any other appropriate authorities for any income tax or national insurance contributions due in respect of sums payable in connection with this Agreement 

      16.1.5. you have never been convicted of any criminal offence.

17. Data Protection and Monitoring

17.1. You acknowledge that FTF may need to process personal data about you for a variety of legal and administrative purposes. This data may include information relating to arrangements with you and your performance of the Driver Services and for the purposes of record keeping and invoicing.


17.2. You may have access to personal data about the employees, customers and suppliers of FTF. If the performance of the Driver Services involves you processing personal data (whether as data controller or data processor), you must:


     17.2.1. act only on instructions from FTF or as set out in this Agreement 

     17.2.2. take appropriate technical and organisational measures to keep the data secure and protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing of such
data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, such data.

17.3. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless FTF, and our respective affiliates,officers, agents, employees, and permitted successors and assigns against any and all claims, losses, damages, liabilities, penalties, punitive damages, expenses,reasonable legal fees and costs of any kind or amount whatsoever, which result from or arise out of any act or omission by you, your respective affiliates, officers, agents, employees, and permitted successors and assigns that occurs in connection with this Agreement.

17.4. You acknowledge and agree that you are personally responsible for the performance of the Driver Services and accordingly accept liability for any costs, claims, proceedings, damages, losses, expenses or other liabilities (including legal costs) (together, “Losses”) threatened, suffered or incurred by FTF as a result of your negligent provision of the Driver Services or failure to ensure that the Driver Services are provided with a sufficient standard of care. You agree to indemnify and keep indemnified FTF against all such Losses.

18. Limitation of Liability

18.1. FTF’s entire liability under these Terms and Conditions with respect to any breach of our contractual obligations, any breach of warranty, any representation, statement or delictual act or omission including negligence arising shall not exceed the amount of the Service Fees paid to or due to us in the twelve (12) months immediately in advance of the event that gives rise to such claim.

18.2. FTF shall not be liable to you for any indirect or consequential loss which you may suffer, even if the loss is reasonably foreseeable or FTF has been advised of the possibility of you incurring it.

18.3. FTF shall not be liable for any loss, costs or damage howsoever arising from the failure of any third party to fulfill its obligations to you under any agreement between you and such third party.

18.4. Nothing in this clause 18 limits any liability, which may not legally be limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence and liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

18.5. The limitations and exclusions of liability in these Terms and Conditions shall survive termination of the Agreement.

19. Duration and Termination

19.1 Your use of the App and the App Services is voluntary and subject to compliance with these Terms and Conditions. If you choose to stop, you may do so without providing any notice.

19.2 We may withdraw permanently or suspend access to the App and App Services with immediate effect if we conclude that there is a breach by you of these Terms and Conditions or if there is a suspected breach of the Driver Requirements (clause 7) or Warranties (clause 16) or in the event that we receive a serious safety complaint.

20. Waiver

The waiver by either Party of a breach, default, delay or omission of any of the provisions of this Agreement by the other Party will not be construed as a waiver of any subsequent breach of the same or other provisions.

21. Dispute Resolution

Should any dispute arise in connection with these Terms and Conditions the Parties will seek to resolve the matter through discussions and if that is unsuccessful within a period of 30 days parties shall attempt to settle it by Mediation in accordance with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) Model Mediation Procedure.

22. Governing law

These Driver Terms and Conditions will be governed by the laws of Scotland and the Courts of Scotland will have non-exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate any disputes arising under it.