Our Chauffeurs
The professional chauffeur is of paramount importance in ensuring a service is performed effectively and efficiently.
Quality Assurance
The following is a brief summary of the basic criteria we expect all our chauffeurs to meet. These criteria are incorporated into a comprehensive legal service agreement which we insist our chauffeurs and affiliates enter into.
Our chauffeurs must always drive at a safe speed considering the road/weather conditions and the legal speed limit and must adhere to the Highway Code and traffic laws at all times.
Our clients should enjoy a smooth ride, defined by the lack of any discernible acceleration or deceleration because they may be trying to work, sleep or relax.
We emphasise that the ride the passenger experiences is considerably harsher than the ride the driver experiences and you should always drive more smoothly than you think you need to. At no time should the passengers be made to feel unsafe or that the chauffeur is not operating the vehicle beyond his capability.
We insist our chauffeurs have a thorough knowledge of their home location including the following:
- Airport locations and terminal layouts.
- The major arterial routes into and out of the city centre
- Locations of major hotels, restaurants, places of interest and key corporate addresses likely to be encountered during a roadshow.
Our chauffeurs will have far more than just a rudimentary knowledge of their city and should only need to refer to a map or a Satellite Navigation System if the address is obscure or out of town. In most cases they will have had the opportunity to prepare or actually drive the route beforehand but will make use of maps and SatNav to argument their navigation where appropriate.
- When meeting a flight, they must also double-check which terminal it arrives into and monitor its progress to ensure they are ready for their pick-up in plenty of time. Flight arrivals (especially long-haul) can change quickly so they will ensure the information is correct and allow enough time for the pick-up. We also encourage them to speak with the airline AND the airport to ensure the information tallies with the already crosschecked information we have provided.
- They will use a name board as instructed on the booking request and display it clearly. We advise our chauffeurs that one-inch capital letters are visible at 30 feet by a normal sighted person –and so they should write as big as the space will allow.
- We suggest they stand in a position that is as obvious as possible to an arriving passenger. Although it may seem better to stand away from a huge group of chauffeurs, this is most likely where a passenger would look to begin with.
- When working as part of a team on a multi-car service, our chauffeurs are advised accordingly and provided with the contact details of the other chauffeur(s). They will establish contact prior to the initial pick-up to ensure they are both in situ in the same place at the same time, have similarly worded name boards and are ready to perform the service as a co-ordinated team.
- During multi-car services, a lead chauffeur will be assigned whose responsibility it is to co-ordinate the passengers' requirements and communicate any changes we have been instructed to make. The lead-chauffeur should co-ordinate meeting points, times and also that all chauffeurs submit bills for the same charges.
- When dropping a lone client to an address at night, the chauffeur will attempt to ensure the passengers are safely inside the building before departing.
- The chauffeur will check the interior and boot of their vehicle thoroughly to ensure their passengers have all their belongings. If there are any items left over that are no longer required, the chauffeur will take direction from the passenger regarding what should be done with them.
Our chauffeurs wholly understand the importance of communicating their progress to us if for any reason the party is not adhering to their schedule or for any reason that could affect the successful performance of the service.
We believe our focus on financial sector clients has helped us define these standards more clearly and maintain them more consistently and whilst we obviously have to place a degree of trust in our chauffeurs, we have invested considerable resources in finding ways of ensuring they have the necessary information and support to perform their services flawlessly. Driven Worldwide chauffeurs understand the objectives of our clients, such as the need to maintain complete confidentiality and the importance of communicating any deviations from their schedule.