Capital Call

The information on this page explains how Transport for London (TfL) uses the personal information you supply when you contact Capital Call or use our services. It also describes how long that information is kept and the circumstances in which we might disclose it to a third party.

Personal information we hold

Capital Call is closed to new members. The service was originally managed through Hackney Community Transport (HCT) up until 1 July 2018 and Transport for London (TfL) took over the management of Capital Call on 2 July 2018. HCT wrote to all Capital Call members in March and June 2018 to gain consent to share their personal information with TfL in order to retain their membership with Capital Call. The personal information we hold includes:

  • Name, address, telephone numbers, email address
  • Date of birth
  • Photograph
  • Vehicle or ride preferences
  • Information relating to your disability, health or long-term condition (eg relating to your mobility)
  • Information relating to your mobility aids and special travel requirements
  • Emergency contact details
  • Taxicard number (which is used as your Capital Call membership number)
  • Dial a ride membership ID
  • Communication preferences
  • Enquiries, complaints or other correspondence from you
  • Records of the journeys you have booked with Capital Call from 2 July 2018
  • Location information and any comments you provide while booking a ride

If you telephone the Capital Call customer contact centre, your call will be recorded for training and quality purposes.

Legal basis for using your information

Under data protection legislation, TfL is only allowed to use personal information if we have a proper reason or 'legal basis' to do so. In the case of Capital Call, there are a number of these legal grounds we rely on, which are:

Our statutory and public functions

  • To undertake activities to promote and encourage safe, integrated, efficient and economic transport facilities and services, and to deliver the Mayor's Transport Strategy

Where you have given your consent to TfL

  • For example if you have asked the contact centre to resolve an issue or complaint for you

Sometimes we also need to collect or store information that is defined as 'special category personal data'. In respect of Capital Call, this consists of health, disability or mobility information we collect from you. As before, there are a number of legal grounds we rely on when handling this kind of information, depending on the circumstances, which are:

  • Where we have your explicit consent to do so for a particular purpose
  • For the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
  • Where it's necessary for equality of opportunity or treatment

Obtaining and using your information

The personal information we hold was provided by you when you gave your consent to HCT to share this with TfL as part of the transfer process prior to 2 July 2018, and any subsequent customer update forms we might send to you.

TfL and the companies that process personal information on our behalf will use your personal information for the purposes of customer services and administration (including assessing and reviewing your eligibility to receive the Capital Call Service), the provision of door-to-door travel services, customer research and fraud prevention.

Using your online account

In November 2023, we launched a new London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and website to improve the accessibility and efficiency of the service, alongside the overall customer experience. For more information, visit the Dial-a-Ride pages on our website.

The personal information we hold is provided by you when you create an online account via London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and website and registered to become a Capital Call member. This includes your name, email address, mobile number and wheelchair accessibility information.

Location information

If you use London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and website and have given us permission, we will access your location data (e.g. latitude and longitude) to deliver some of the app features such as to matching you with available drivers and to then track the progress of your rides.

The location data is provided by Apple's Location Services or Google's Location Services (depending on your device's operating system). For more information visit Apple's page on Location Services & Privacy and Google's page on how it uses location information.

Personal Preferences

You can customise the app or website via personal preferences to enable accessibility features or save your favourites destinations/preferred "home address" or pickup-drop off address when you make ride requests/booking a ride.

Communication via the app

We collect metadata from communications between you and drivers, including the date, time, and phone numbers involved in calls made through our service provider.

Device Information

We may collect information about the devices and browsers you use to access your online account via London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and website. This may include your operating system, browser details, as well as information about the mobile devices you may use to access the London Dial-a-Ride mobile app.

Usage Information

We collect information about how you interact with London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and website, including your User Account transactions and automatically collected log data. Usage Information may include, but is not limited to, information about when and how you downloaded London Dial-a-Ride mobile app or created your User Account; your access and login activity; your preferences; your transactions; any alerts or communications we send you in connection with your use of the London Dial-a-Ride mobile app.

Contacting you by email or text message

If you sign up for an online account via our website or app and provide your mobile number or email address, from time to time we will send you travel related information by email or text message. These service messages contain useful information in relation to your booking, and might include:

  • Booking reminder of upcoming trips and updates;
  • Confirmation of trip booking immediately after it's made;
  • Confirmation of any amendments to a trip booking, or cancellation of a trip booking;
  • Travel disruption ie service delays and service itinerary changes;
  • Estimated arrival time of the driver for an upcoming trip;
  • Any changes to the estimated arrival time of the driver for an upcoming trip;
  • Important changes to Dial-a-Ride service you use / service announcements;
  • Changes to terms and conditions of travel.

You can update your communication preference via the London Dial-a-Ride mobile app or website, or by emailing Dial-a-Ride.

We may send you information from time to time on issues relating to Capital Call or our other Assisted Transport and public transport services that TfL or London Councils operate in London such as:

  • Information on how to use Capital Call
  • Availability of services at certain times of the year (eg bank holidays)
  • Other important updates or changes to Capital Call
  • Information about improvements to Dial-a-Ride, Taxicard or mainstream bus services
  • Consultations about TfL's plans for accessible travel in London

Length of time we keep your information

We will keep an electronic record of your personal information for as long as you're a member of Capital Call

If you submit any enquiries to Capital Call either by letter, telephone or email, these will be retained electronically in accordance with TfL's information and records disposal policy. After you stop being a member we will keep your information for up to five years. This is for the following reasons:

  • To respond to correspondence, concerns or complaints
  • To maintain records according to rules that apply to us
  • To establish and defend any legal rights

Keeping personal information secure

We take the privacy of our customers very seriously and a range of robust policies, processes and physical and technical measures are all in place to control and safeguard access to, and use of, personal information associated with TfL's management and operation of the Capital Call transport service. Anyone with access to personal information held in TfL's systems is required to complete TfL's privacy and data protection training on an annual basis.

We also publish guidance on the steps you can also take to protect your personal information.

Automated processing and profiling

Under data protection legislation we have to let you know when we use your personal information do something 'automatically' using our computers or other systems, or make an automated decision (without human intervention) that significantly affects you.

In the case of Capital Call, TfL does not make decisions based solely on the use of automated systems, databases or computer applications. Occasionally TfL may use aggregated or depersonalised Capital Call information to carry out research and analysis, for example, to assess the usage of our service. We may also use it to identify improvements we might need to make to the service (or other assisted travel options in London) in future. Individuals will not be identified using this information.

Sharing personal information

TfL uses external service providers to provide a computerised booking and scheduling system, to undertake customer satisfaction surveys, to distribute in-house information about the Capital Call service and to provide all journeys for the service.

If you have a query about your membership or use of the Capital Call service and would like a third party to contact us on your behalf, we will only deal with them with your permission. This is the case even if the person is your carer, partner or spouse, a member of your family, living at the same address as you, or your legal representative.

We may also share your personal information with other public bodies such as your local authority for the purposes of safeguarding and with London Councils, who operate the Taxicard and Freedom Pass Schemes, for the purposes of preventing and detecting fraud and the monitoring and planning of assisted transport provision in London. Any such information sharing will be carried out in accordance with privacy and data protection legislation and with the appropriate written agreements in place.

In some circumstances, disclosures of personal data to the police (and other law enforcement agencies) are permitted by data protection legislation, if they relate to the prevention or detection of crime and/or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders. Before any such disclosure takes place, the police are required to demonstrate that the personal data concerned will assist them in this respect. Each police request to TfL is dealt with on a strict case-by-case basis to ensure that any such disclosure is lawful and in accordance with the data protection legislation.

Overseas processing

TfL and its service providers may process your personal information in the UK and authorised countries including those within the European Economic Area (EEA) and other countries recognised by the UK Government as providing equivalent protection for personal information. Any such processing will be carried out in strict accordance with UK privacy legislation and the appropriate contractual safeguards which TfL has put in place.

Your information rights

Under data protection legislation you are entitled to ask to see any personal information that we hold about you. Please see our page on how to access your data for further details.

If you use the London Dial-a-Ride mobile app and wish to delete your account, you can follow the instructions from within the app to submit a request.

You also have a number of other information rights which include:

  • The right to question any information we have about you that you think is wrong or incomplete
  • The right to object to how we use your information or to ask us to delete or restrict how we use it
  • In some cases, the right to receive a copy of your information in a format that you can easily re-use
  • The right to complain to our Data Protection Officer
  • The right to complain to the regulator - the Information Commissioner's Office

Changes to this page

It's likely that we'll need to update this statement from time to time, so check back here regularly to find out more. Your continued use of the site will mean that you accept those revisions. This page was last updated in November 2023 to include details of the new website and app.