Accessibility statement

Two separate things sit under one heading here because a reader needing one often needs the other. The first half is about travelling with us; the second is about reading this site.

Both halves are written to be checked rather than admired. Where something is not good enough, it is named, and the last clause explains what to do about it.

As a service provider we have a duty to make reasonable adjustments so that a disabled person is not put at a substantial disadvantage compared with anyone else. That duty is anticipatory: we are supposed to have thought about it before you ask, not after.

In practice that means the adjustments below are already in place rather than being favours granted on the day. If what you need is not on the list, ask, and we will tell you plainly whether we can do it.

Chauffeurs are used to helping a passenger transfer, and will offer an arm, take the weight of a door and position the car so the step is on the pavement side rather than into the road.

Seat height varies between classes and it matters more than most people expect. The SUV class sits highest, which suits a passenger who finds standing up from a low seat difficult; the saloons sit lower and are easier to slide into. Tell us which is easier for you and we will allocate on that basis rather than on price.

Front seat travel is fine if that is what works. So is leaving the door open while somebody gets their breath, and so is a chauffeur who waits without hovering.

A folding wheelchair, a rollator or a walking frame travels in the boot at no charge and does not count against your luggage allowance. Powered chairs that fold are usually carried in the MPV class; the heaviest are not, and we will tell you which before you book rather than after.

We do not operate a ramp-equipped wheelchair accessible vehicle. If you need to travel seated in your own chair, we cannot do that in our own fleet. Say so at the enquiry and we will either find an operator who can, or tell you honestly that you would be better served booking elsewhere.

That is a limitation rather than a policy, and we would rather state it in the first paragraph you read than have you discover it on a forecourt.

An assistance dog travels in the cabin with its owner, always, at no charge, and no chauffeur of ours will suggest the boot. You do not need to give notice, although a word when you book means a blanket is already in the car.

A chauffeur who refused an assistance dog would not be working with us the following week. If it ever happens, tell us and it will be dealt with as a safety and conduct matter rather than a service complaint.

A companion, personal assistant or carer travels at no additional charge on any booking, and counts as a passenger only for the purpose of seats and belts.

Where a support worker needs to sit next to you, say so and the car will be loaded accordingly. Where somebody is meeting you at the destination and needs to know when you will arrive, the chauffeur can message them from the road.

Everything can be done in writing. Book by WhatsApp or email, receive the confirmation and the chauffeur details the same way, and tell the chauffeur where you want to go by message from the back seat if that is easier than speaking.

Tell us at booking and the chauffeur will message rather than call on arrival, will face you when speaking, and will not spend the journey talking to the back of your head. A British Sign Language interpreter travelling with you is a companion under the clause above.

The chauffeur will meet you rather than expecting you to find the car, will say who they are before touching anything, and will describe the vehicle and the seat before you get in. Guiding is offered rather than assumed, and an arm is offered rather than taken.

Ask and the chauffeur will read out a confirmation, describe a route, or say what is happening when a car stops unexpectedly. At an airport, the meeting point named on your confirmation can be changed to wherever assistance is bringing you.

Getting into a car unhurried takes as long as it takes. The waiting allowances in the booking terms are not applied to a passenger who needs longer at the kerb because of a disability, and no chauffeur is authorised to start a meter on it.

Where a journey genuinely needs more time built in, tell us at booking and we will schedule it, so the chauffeur is not privately worrying about the next job while you get settled.

We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 at level AA across every page on this site.

That is a target rather than a certified result. Nobody has audited these pages independently, and the honest clauses below say where that leaves things.

The following are deliberate decisions in the build rather than defaults we happened to inherit.

• A skip link to the main content is the first thing keyboard focus reaches on every page.
• Headings run in order without a level being skipped, so a screen reader’s heading list is a usable outline.
• Every interactive element has a visible focus ring in the accent colour, at a size that survives on a dark section.
• Body text is set at a minimum of sixteen pixels, which also stops iOS zooming when a form field is focused.
• Colour is never the only way something is signalled, and the palette was checked for contrast before it was used.
• Animation is limited, and every transition is switched off for anyone whose system asks for reduced motion.
• Photographs carry alt text describing the picture where it sits, rather than a keyword phrase.
• The page summary block, which is hidden visually, is read by screen readers and carries the same facts as the layout.
• Nothing plays automatically, nothing moves on scroll that has to be caught, and there are no timed interactions.

There has been no independent accessibility audit of this site. The checks are our own, using keyboard navigation, browser accessibility inspectors and contrast tooling, and they are not a substitute for testing with disabled users.

We have not tested systematically with JAWS, NVDA or VoiceOver in the way a formal review would. Nobody with a screen reader has been paid to sit down and take this site apart, and until that has happened we are not going to claim conformance.

• Wide rate tables scroll sideways inside their own container on a narrow screen, which is workable but not elegant.
• The horizontal contents rail on long pages relies on scrolling; every link in it is also reachable by tabbing.
• The quote buttons hand your message to WhatsApp, and the accessibility of WhatsApp is not ours to control. The email route and the telephone number are always available instead.
• Some long documents, this one included, are simply long, and no amount of markup makes a fourteen clause policy quick to read.

Write to info@firstclass-chauffeurs.co.uk with the page address and what happened, or ring +44 7775 554848 and describe it. A sentence is enough; you do not need to know the technical name for the problem.

You get an acknowledgement within one working day and a substantive answer within ten, saying either that it is fixed, when it will be fixed, or why it will not be. A problem that stops somebody using the site at all is treated as urgent rather than queued.

If a page is unusable for you and you need the information in it, ask and we will send you the content by email in whatever format works, at no charge and without asking why.

The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 require a formal accessibility statement from public sector organisations. We are not one, and this is not that statement.

It is published because a reader deciding whether they can travel with us deserves a straight answer, and because writing down what has not been tested is the only thing that keeps it on the list.