Tipping a taxi driver in the UK is customary but never obligatory. Most passengers round the fare up to the nearest pound, and a tip of around ten per cent is considered generous rather than expected. Nobody will think badly of you for paying exactly what you were quoted.
That short answer covers most journeys. The detail below explains how much people actually give, when a tip is more usual, and how tipping works when the journey has already been paid for — which is how most private hire bookings are settled.
Yes, many people do, but there is no rule and no service charge. Britain has never had the strong tipping culture that North America has. A taxi driver in Surrey or south-west London will not expect a tip on a short local run, and will not react badly if you do not leave one.
What is common is rounding up. If a journey comes to a figure with pennies or an awkward amount of change, most passengers tell the driver to keep the round pound. That is the single most common form of tipping in this country, and it is usually what people mean when they say they tip taxi drivers.
Where a tip is more usual is on journeys that involve real work: an airport run with four suitcases, a 5am start, a long motorway trip, help to a front door, or a driver who waited patiently while a flight landed late. Those are the moments passengers tend to reach for something extra.
This is the default. On a short local journey — a station run, a trip into town, a school pick-up — rounding up to the next whole pound is the normal gesture. It is small, it avoids fiddling with change, and it is read as a thank you rather than a payment.
On a longer trip, and particularly on an airport transfer, ten per cent is the figure most people have in mind. It is a convention rather than a rule, and plenty of passengers give less or nothing at all without any awkwardness. Ten per cent of a long motorway journey is a meaningful sum, so treat it as the upper end of normal rather than a starting point.
Many passengers ignore percentages altogether and hand over a set amount — a pound or two on a local run, a little more after an airport transfer where the driver has carried luggage. If you are travelling the same route regularly, a flat amount each time is simpler for everyone and is what most account and contract customers settle into.
An airport transfer is the journey passengers tip on most often, and for good reason. The driver is usually up before you are, has checked your flight, has loaded and unloaded the boot, and has taken a route chosen to miss the worst of the M25. A Gatwick run from Epsom is around nineteen miles and takes a little over half an hour in clear traffic; a Heathrow transfer is about twenty-four miles and a similar time. A Stansted trip is closer to seventy-three miles and can take an hour and three quarters. The longer the drive, the more likely a tip.
If a driver carries cases to a check-in desk, up a flight of steps, or into a hallway, that is work beyond the journey itself. The same applies to a driver who helps an elderly relative in and out of the car, or who waits at the door until someone is safely inside. Passengers tip for this far more readily than for distance.
Regular school and contract journeys are usually settled on an account rather than in the car, so day-to-day tipping does not really arise. Where parents often do give something is at the end of a term or a school year, as a thank you for months of punctual pick-ups. If your child travels without you, our guide to how old a child has to be to take a taxi alone covers the rules and the practicalities.
On a wheelchair-accessible journey, the driver operates the ramp, secures the chair and checks the restraints before setting off. That takes time and care. Many passengers and families tip for it; many do not, because they book regularly and settle on an account. Neither is wrong.
On a two-mile hop to a station or a supermarket, most passengers pay the quoted figure and that is the end of it. Rounding up is welcome; anything more is unusual and nothing is expected.
No. There is no service charge on a private hire journey in the UK, and a licensed operator quotes a figure that is the figure. If you book with us by phone or through the online booking form, the price you are given is the price for the journey — nothing is added for service, and nothing is assumed.
Be wary of any driver or operator who tells you a gratuity is compulsory. It is not, anywhere in the country.
This is the question that catches most people out, because private hire works differently from hailing a cab in the street. With a booked car, payment is usually settled before the journey ends, so there is no moment at the kerb where you hand over notes and wait for change.
We take card payment at the time of booking, by phone on 01372 747 747 or through the online form. There is no card machine in the car. That means anything you want to give the driver on the day is cash. If you would rather not carry cash, mention it when you book and the office will tell you what is possible on your journey.
This is the simplest case. The driver will have the figure you were quoted, so tell them to keep the round pound, or hand over a note and say what you would like back. Try to keep the amount close to the fare where you can — drivers do not carry a great deal of change, particularly on early morning airport runs.
Corporate and household accounts are invoiced monthly, so the driver is not handling money at all. A tip on an account journey is cash given on the day, between you and the driver. Many account customers prefer to do nothing day to day and give something at Christmas or at the end of a contract instead.
If you want the full picture on how taxi payments work in this country, including the London card rules that often cause confusion, see our guide to paying for a taxi by card, cash or account.
The two get mixed up, and the conventions are genuinely different. A chauffeur booking is usually hourly or half-daily, the driver may be waiting for you between stops, and the expected gesture is larger and more formal. A taxi or minicab journey is a point-to-point trip and the convention is much lighter.
If you are booking an executive or chauffeur-driven car rather than a standard saloon, our separate guide to how much to tip a chauffeur sets out what is usual for hourly hire, wedding work and corporate days out. The figures there are deliberately higher than the ones on this page, because the job is different.
A London black cab is hailed in the street and runs on a meter. A private hire car — a minicab — must be booked in advance through a licensed operator and cannot legally be hailed. That difference changes how tipping feels in practice.
In a metered black cab the fare lands on an odd figure, so rounding up is almost automatic. On a booked private hire journey the price is agreed in advance and already a clean number, so there is nothing to round. Many passengers who tip black cab drivers out of habit never tip a minicab driver, simply because the moment never comes up.
Transport for London requires licensed London taxis to accept card and contactless payment with a device in the passenger compartment. That requirement applies to taxis, not to private hire vehicles, which is why a booked car may well have no card machine in it.
Ask any driver and the list is much the same. These cost nothing and make a bigger difference to the day than a couple of pounds.
If you are paying cash, bring something close to the figure. A driver who has to break a fifty at seven in the morning will spend the rest of the shift short of change.
A postcode and a house number at the start saves a conversation halfway down an unfamiliar lane. It also means the driver can pick the sensible approach rather than turning round in a cul-de-sac.
Most drivers are happy to talk, and plenty of passengers want the quiet. Both are fine. What is not helpful is a conversation that needs eye contact on a busy roundabout.
A car that has already set off for a pick-up cannot be anywhere else. Ten minutes of notice frees that driver for another job; two minutes does not.
On an airport run in particular, the schedule has been built backwards from your check-in. Being at the door on time protects your own journey more than anybody else’s.
A few things passengers sometimes feel they should pay extra for, and should not.
If any of those appear as an extra charge rather than part of the price you agreed, question it before the journey rather than tipping to cover it.
Airport work is where the question comes up most, so here is the context for the five airports we cover from the Epsom office. The distances below are measured from Epsom Clock Tower, KT19 8BA.
Around nineteen miles and a little over half an hour in clear traffic. Short enough that many passengers simply round up, long enough that a driver loading three cases at 4am often gets more.
About twenty-four miles and roughly half an hour. The Heathrow run involves terminal navigation and, on a pick-up, a meet in the arrivals hall — the part passengers most often thank a driver for.
These are the long ones: Luton is around fifty-eight miles, London City about forty-nine, and Stansted roughly seventy-three. On a journey of that length ten per cent is a substantial figure, and a flat amount is the more common choice.
We are a licensed private hire operator based at the Epsom Clock Tower, with twelve offices across Surrey and south-west London and licences held with seven authorities — Epsom and Ewell, Reigate and Banstead, Mole Valley, Elmbridge, Guildford, Waverley and Transport for London. Every journey is booked in advance, every price is agreed before you travel, and every driver is licensed and enhanced DBS checked.
To book, call the office on 01372 747 747 or use the online booking form. If you would like to know more about the company and the licences we hold, the about page sets it out.
Local offices include Godalming, Reigate, Guildford, Dorking, Banstead, Bookham, Chessington, Ashtead and North Cheam.
Many people do, but it is not expected and there is no service charge. The most common gesture is rounding the fare up to the nearest pound. Nobody will think badly of you for paying exactly what you were quoted.
Rounding up to the nearest pound on a short journey, or around ten per cent on a longer trip such as an airport transfer. Ten per cent is the upper end of what is normal rather than a starting point. Plenty of passengers give a flat pound or two instead.
No. Britain does not have an obligatory tipping culture for taxis. A driver will not expect a tip on a local run and will not react badly if you do not leave one.
You can, but it happens far less often. A black cab fare lands on an odd figure so rounding up is almost automatic, whereas a booked minicab journey is quoted as a clean number in advance, so there is nothing to round up.
In cash, on the day. We take card payment when the booking is made and there is no card machine in the car, so anything given to the driver on the journey itself is cash. If you would rather not carry cash, say so when you book.
Account journeys are invoiced monthly and the driver handles no money, so a tip on an account journey is cash given on the day. Many account customers give something at Christmas or at the end of a contract instead.
Passengers usually do, because the driver has monitored the flight, started early and handled luggage. On the longer runs to Luton or Stansted a flat amount is more common than a percentage, because ten per cent of a seventy-mile journey is a large sum.
No. Where a child seat has been arranged in advance, or a journey is booked as wheelchair accessible, that is part of the service and part of the price you agreed. It should never appear as an extra charge.
No, nowhere in the UK. If a driver or operator tells you a gratuity is compulsory, that is not correct.
More, and the conventions are different because chauffeur work is usually booked by the hour with waiting time built in. Our separate guide to tipping a chauffeur covers hourly hire, wedding work and corporate bookings.
Call Clocktower Cars on 01372 747 747 or book online. You will be quoted a price before you travel, and whether you round it up is entirely up to you.
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