Privacy Policy

1 Who we are

SoftiBuild Taxi operates the private hire technology platform at taxi.softibuild.com. We provide booking, dispatch and payment infrastructure for licensed private hire vehicle (PHV) operators across the United Kingdom.

For the purposes of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, SoftiBuild Taxi is the data controller for personal data processed through this platform.

Our Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) registration number will be published here once registration is complete.

2 Data we collect

Riders (passengers)

• Account data: Full name, email address, mobile phone number
• Location data: Pickup and destination addresses, real-time GPS position during a booked journey
• Journey data: Route taken, distance, duration, fare, vehicle type, payment method
• Payment data: Card details are processed by Stripe and never stored on our servers. We retain transaction references, amounts and payment status.
• Rating data: Star ratings you give to drivers after journeys
• Preference data: Any driver preference flags you set (private — not shared with drivers)
• Device data: Browser type, IP address, operating system (collected automatically)

Drivers

• Identity data: Full name, email, mobile number, photo ID
• Licensing data: PHV driver licence number, expiry date, DBS certificate number
• Vehicle data: Registration plate, make, model, vehicle type, MOT and insurance details
• Location data: Real-time GPS position while online on the platform
• Financial data: Bank account and sort code for weekly earnings payouts
• Performance data: Trip count, earnings history, passenger ratings received

Operators

• Business data: Business name, PHV operator licence number, operating zone
• Contact data: Name, email address, phone number
• Financial data: Commission rates, payout history

3 How we use your data

• To process and dispatch private hire bookings
• To calculate fares using licensed Liverpool City Council PHV tariff rates
• To process card payments through Stripe
• To pay driver earnings weekly via bank transfer
• To display real-time driver location to passengers during an active booking
• To manage driver compliance — licence and document expiry alerts
• To operate the mutual preference system (rider-driver match filtering)
• To send booking confirmations, receipts and journey updates by email or SMS
• To investigate complaints, disputes or safety concerns
• To comply with our legal obligations as a platform operating in the UK
• To improve the platform through aggregated, anonymised usage analysis

4 Legal basis for processing

• Contract performance: Processing your booking, dispatching a driver, and processing payment are necessary to perform the contract between us.
• Legal obligation: We are required to maintain records of PHV bookings under UK private hire legislation.
• Legitimate interests: Driver location tracking during active journeys, platform security, fraud prevention, and service improvement.
• Consent: Marketing communications and optional data uses where we ask for your permission explicitly.

5 Data sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only as follows:

With licensed PHV operators

When you make a booking, your pickup address, destination and first name are shared with the operator and assigned driver to complete your journey. Your phone number is shared only when the driver is en route to your pickup.

With third-party processors

• Stripe: Payment processing. Stripe is PCI-DSS compliant. Their privacy policy applies to card data.
• Google Maps: Address autocomplete and route calculation. Google's privacy policy applies.
• Twilio: SMS notifications (where enabled). Twilio's privacy policy applies.
• Hetzner: Server hosting in Helsinki, Finland (EU/EEA — no international transfer concern).

Legal disclosure

We may disclose personal data to law enforcement, regulators or courts where required by law, or to protect the safety of users of the platform.

6 Data retention

• Booking records: 7 years (UK private hire legal requirement)
• Driver licensing records: Duration of licence plus 3 years
• Payment records: 7 years (HMRC requirement)
• Account data: Duration of account plus 2 years after closure
• Location data: 90 days after journey completion
• Preference flags: 12 months, then anonymised

7 Your rights under UK GDPR

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@softibuild.com. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office.

8 Cookies

We use the following cookies on this platform:

• Session cookie: Keeps you logged in during your visit. Expires when you close your browser.
• Auth cookie: Remembers your login for up to 2 hours.
• Stripe cookies: Set by Stripe for fraud prevention during payment.
• Google Maps cookies: Set by Google when displaying maps.

We do not use advertising cookies or track you across other websites. See our Cookie Policy for full details.

9 Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data including:

• HTTPS encryption on all data in transit (TLS 1.2+)
• Database access restricted to application servers only
• Card data never stored on our servers — processed entirely by Stripe
• Driver bank details encrypted at rest
• Cloudflare WAF protection against common web attacks
• Regular security reviews and penetration testing (planned for V2 launch)

10 Children

This platform is not intended for use by persons under 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe we have collected data from a child, please contact us immediately at privacy@softibuild.com.

11 Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes by email at least 14 days before they take effect. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated.

12 Contact us