Female Chauffeur

You can. Raise it when you enquire, and we look at whether a female chauffeur is free on that date, at that hour and along that route. Nothing about it is automatic: it's a request, not a standing arrangement, and it only becomes firm once someone here has read the itinerary. Where it works, we say so in plain terms. A no reaches you early enough to make other plans.

No need. Some people ask for religious or cultural reasons, some for personal comfort, some because they feel safer, and plenty never say why. We write the preference into your booking and deal with it without remarks or follow-up questions. Explaining is your choice. If you'd like to tell us, that's fine, though it won't alter how we treat the request or how fast you get an answer.

Not always, and it's better you hear that from us now. Whether one is free turns on the date, the time of day and where the car needs to go. Short notice makes it harder. So do peak periods, and so does travel outside the major cities. There's no standing roster to fall back on, so we check each request against the real day in question and give you a straight answer rather than a hopeful one.

We tell you the moment it becomes clear. You'll get the specific legs of the itinerary that are affected, a note on whether a small shift in timing might solve it, and whatever we're able to put forward in its place. None of that binds you. Turn the alternative down if it doesn't suit, or cancel under the terms set out when your booking was confirmed; nothing goes ahead without your say-so.

Nothing changes. Whoever drives works from the same briefing and the same route plan, and the car is presented to one standard. Discretion doesn't vary either. We won't suggest that any chauffeur takes more care at the wheel, or is any better with children, on account of their sex. What differs is what you prefer and what makes you comfortable, and that's a good enough reason to ask on its own.

The earlier, the better. Days of warning beat hours by a long way, and a few weeks' notice helps more again for a weekend, a holiday, an event period or a journey outside London. Travelling to a regular pattern? Put the whole pattern in one message, so we can review the run as a block instead of taking each date as it comes round.