Our people
Our chauffeurs. Chosen slowly, employed by us and briefed on you before the door opens.
Because every chauffeur is chosen with care and employed by us, the person who meets you is already early, knows your name and your preferences, and makes the journey easy. Here is how they are chosen and the standard they work to.
- 20+years in private travel
- Ownedchauffeur fleet in London and Manchester, a trusted global network beyond
- 24/7operations desk, one contact
- 3services on one itinerary: car, jet and yacht
In partnership with Harrods Aviation · Signature Aviation · SW Global
Why it matters
You do not experience an operations department
A client's opinion of us is formed in the first thirty seconds of meeting a chauffeur: whether they were already there, whether they knew the name, whether they took the case without being asked, and whether they knew when to stop talking. The planning behind the journey either shows up in that moment or it was wasted.
So the chauffeur is not the last link in our chain. They are the product. We would rather run fewer cars with people we are certain of than more cars with people we are not, and in London and Manchester that is exactly the choice we have made.
Employed, not found
On our payroll, not on an app
In London and Manchester our chauffeurs are employed by us and drive cars we own and maintain. They are not self-employed drivers signed up for the evening, and not a different company each time you travel. That is what lets us train them our way, brief them on you rather than on an address, and be answerable when something is not right.
Outside those two cities the car comes from our trusted global network of operators we have worked with for years, and we say so plainly rather than letting you assume otherwise. We brief them to the same standard and we take the complaint if it comes.
How we choose
What we look for in a chauffeur
Driving well is the beginning of the list, not the end of it.
- A background in service rather than only in driving: hotels, private households, hospitality, aviation or long chauffeur experience
- Real knowledge of London or Manchester, including the buildings, the side entrances and the roads that are quick at seven and impossible at nine
- Presence and manner: a person who is easy to be near, who greets a guest properly and who does not make a passenger work
- Judgement about silence. Most of the best chauffeurs we know speak when spoken to and not otherwise
- Calm when a day falls apart, because at some point it will
- A temperament that is happy to be early and to wait, which is more of the job than driving is
- Discretion that is instinctive rather than contractual, in a role that sees a great deal of a client's private life
How someone joins us
Before anyone drives a client
- 01
Introduction and interview
We meet them properly, more than once, and talk about the work as it really is: the early starts, the waiting, the discretion, the standards.
- 02
Driving and knowledge
We satisfy ourselves about how they drive, how they plan a route and how they behave at a door, in the car and with luggage.
- 03
Checks
The checks required of us, and the further checks we choose to make, are completed before anyone carries a client. We will set out exactly what those are for your risk or procurement team on request.
- 04
Working with us
New chauffeurs learn our way of doing things before they are put with a regular client, and we keep watching after that. Nobody is left to work it out alone.
What is expected, every day
The standard they work to
- Arrive early. Waiting is not lost time, it is the job
- Dark suit, clean shirt, quiet tie. Gloves where the occasion calls for them
- The car cleaned and checked before it leaves us, inside and out, every time
- Know the route, the alternative, and where the car can actually stand at that address
- Open the door, take the luggage, carry it to the door at the other end
- No conversation about other clients. No conversation about you, to anyone
- No photographs, no social media, no autographs, not once
- Tell the desk at once when something changes, so the client hears it from us first
The same face
Continuity is worth more than any promise
Where a client travels regularly we put a small, consistent group of chauffeurs with them, and for a household or a principal usually one. It is better for privacy, because fewer people know your life, and better for service, because preferences learnt once are not explained again: which entrance, which route home, temperature, music or silence, the child seat that lives in the boot on a Thursday.
If a chauffeur is not right for you, tell us and we will change them without any awkwardness. It is your car and your hour. See dedicated chauffeur for how a regular arrangement works.
For your risk or procurement team
The detail is available on request
Licensing, insurance, vetting and the checks we complete before a chauffeur drives a client are questions we answer directly and in writing, to whoever needs to see them. Ask us and you will get specifics rather than adjectives.
Questions people ask
About our chauffeurs
Can we have the same chauffeur every time?
For regular travel, yes, and it is the arrangement we prefer too. A colleague who has been briefed on your preferences covers holidays and illness, and you are told in advance.
Can we meet a chauffeur before a regular arrangement starts?
Yes. For a household or a principal it is a personal arrangement and it should suit both sides, so you meet before anything is agreed.
What checks do you carry out on chauffeurs?
We complete the checks required of us and further checks of our own before anyone carries a client. We set out the specifics in writing for clients who need them rather than publishing them here.
Should we tip?
It is never expected and our chauffeurs will not ask. If you want to recognise someone, telling us is worth more to them than you might think.
Something was not right. Who do we tell?
Your contact, or the operations desk at any hour on +44 2030 048300. We would far rather hear it than not.
One contact, wherever you are