The small print

Shared Shuttles is a booking service for shuttles between Salisbury station and Old Sarum castle. Our full business details will be shown here before we take real bookings.

Every trip is accepted and run by Premier Taxis Salisbury, a private hire operator licensed by Wiltshire Council. The firm is responsible for its drivers and vehicles.

A private shuttle is £16.75 for the vehicle, up to 8 people, paid when you book. In a shared shuttle everyone pays an equal share of the fare, plus a £1.75 booking fee per booking, from £3.63 each. Up to 8 people share a vehicle, in any number of groups of 1 to 7, and the price drops as people join. When you book we hold the price you chose on your card: your group’s price with the people going at that moment, or for a new shuttle its price with 2 people in it (£9.25 for 1, £11.75 for 2, £13.00 for 3). For trips 4 or more days ahead we save your card and place the hold 4 days before pickup; if that hold fails we send you a link to fix it, and if it isn’t fixed by 2 hours before pickup the booking is cancelled and nothing is taken. 2 hours before pickup we take your final price for the number of people sharing, the same or lower, never more than the hold, and release the rest. Every price includes our booking fee.

A shared shuttle keeps the pickup time of the first person who booked it. Others going the same way on the same day can join it at that time, until it is full or until 2 hours before pickup. Nobody joins? Full refund, unless you choose to go private. If nobody has joined you 2 hours before pickup, your shuttle doesn’t run: we release your hold in full and you pay nothing, and we email to let you know. If you’d rather keep it as the whole vehicle for £16.75, choose “I’d rather go private if nobody joins”: then your shuttle goes ahead as a private one instead, and we charge the difference to the card you booked with, so £16.75 for the whole vehicle in total. You can change this on your trip page until 2 hours before pickup. If that charge doesn’t go through, we release your hold in full and tell you. You can also join a shared shuttle that is already going, if your group fits (never more than 8 people): we hold the price shown when you join, and take your final price 2 hours before pickup, the same or lower, like everyone else.

You can start a shared shuttle up to 30 minutes before pickup. Less than 2 hours before pickup, we hold the whole vehicle price, and your shuttle always runs, even if nobody joins. Others can join until 30 minutes before pickup; each person who joins lowers everyone’s price, and we refund you the difference. Because it always runs, it can’t be cancelled once booked.

Every shared booking has a link you can share. If at least one booking made through your link joins your shuttle and is charged its final price 2 hours before pickup (not cancelled), we take your £1.75 booking fee off your final price. Only one booking fee per booking is waived, however many people join through your link. It doesn’t count if the booking through your link uses the same email or the same card as yours. Your link shows the shuttle’s day, time, seats left and price, and your first name (never your surname, phone number or email), unless you tick “Hide my name on my shared link” on your trip page.

An account is optional and free; your next booking fee after making one is free, once your email is confirmed. Every 5 completed trips (shared or private, the way there and the way back each count) earn £2.75 credit. Invite a friend with your link and you both get £1.75 credit when they take their first trip; they must be new to us, and it doesn’t count with your own card. Credit comes off your next booking automatically, on any journey: it pays the booking fee first, then the rest of the trip, and we refund that much to your card once the price is taken. Anything left over stays for next time. Credit has no cash value. The driver is always paid in full.

Shared shuttles: cancel from your trip page up to 2 hours before pickup, whether you started the shuttle or joined it, and we release the hold on your card in full. If you cancel, everyone else’s price goes back up for the people left, but never above what they were first held at. Within 2 hours of pickup it can’t be cancelled or refunded, because the final price is set then. Private shuttles: cancel from your trip page up to 24 hours before pickup for a full refund; after that it isn’t refundable. If you don’t turn up, you pay in full. You always get every penny back when it isn’t your choice: nobody joins your shared shuttle (unless you take the whole vehicle), the shuttle can’t run, or we or the firm cancel.

Airport and port journeys are guaranteed: your shuttle goes ahead even if nobody else books. When you start a shared shuttle, we hold the price for you plus one other person, and if anyone joins before 24 hours before pickup it runs at the shared price. If nobody has joined by 24 hours before pickup, we text and email to ask: keep it for the whole vehicle at the private price, or cancel with a full refund. You have 2 hours to answer. If you keep it, or we don’t hear from you, we charge the whole vehicle price to the card you booked with; it stays open to others until 8 hours before pickup, and each person who joins lowers your price and we refund the difference. If you start a shared shuttle less than 24 hours before pickup, we don’t ask: we hold the whole vehicle price from the start, each person who joins lowers it and we refund the difference, and if nobody joins it goes ahead for you at that price. Shared shuttles take up to 6 people unless the journey says otherwise. Shared shuttles can be started and joined until 8 hours before pickup, and we take your final price then. You can cancel a shared shuttle for free until then, whether you started it or joined it, even after keeping it for the whole vehicle. When booking we ask how many large cases you have. You book a time, and the shuttle leaves at that time, both ways: there’s no flight or sailing number and no waiting for late arrivals, so on the way back allow time for passport control and baggage. Drop off and parking charges are included in the fare. Each journey shows its own times and price when you book.

Be at the meeting point on time (the drop off point near the main entrance of Salisbury train station, or Old Sarum castle, English Heritage car park) and treat drivers and other passengers with respect. We don’t provide child seats, please bring your own. If you’re bringing a folding wheelchair, tell us when you book: it goes in the boot. Assistance dogs only, please: no other animals.

Use the “Make a complaint” form (linked at the bottom of every page) or email info@sharedshuttles.co.uk. We reply within 2 working days. You can also complain to Wiltshire Council, which licenses every driver, vehicle and operator. Lost something? Use the “Lost property” form, also at the bottom of every page, and we pass it straight to the firm.

The final terms will set out which law applies and how any disputes are handled.