Taxi home arrangements for car sharers
Information for members
Car sharers are entitled to use the emergency taxi home scheme when they need to get home quickly in an emergency or unforeseen situation. Please note that this is for people who have shared a car to work and need to get home for one of the following reasons:
- illness of themselves or family;
- their car share driver has had to go home early in an emergency;
- breakdown of the vehicle they travelled in that morning;
- their lift home fails for some other reason, and there is no appropriate alternative (i.e. other car share, reasonable public transport).
If you are an employee of Mulberry Bear Children's Centre then please see (4) below.
What to do
1. During office hours (8.30am to 5.30pm)
- As soon as you are aware you have a problem getting home, check on the Travel Advice website to see if an alternative car share can be arranged. If you cannot find anyone on the car share database please call the Estates office on x59784 or x59821. Please try to ring before 4pm.
- If an alternative car share can not be arranged, and you are unable to get home using public transport then you can book a taxi to take you home.
- If you are taken home via taxi, please ensure that you retain the receipt in order to make an electronic claim. NB: This does NOT include journeys in to work. If your car share partner is off sick or on annual leave then it is your responsibility to get yourself to and from work.
- On return to the OU, you will then need to make a claim on the electronic claims system by following the steps below:
- Go to the intranet
- Click the Finance tab
- Click Travel and Subsistence
- How to claim
- Travel and Subsistence system
- Then select live
- Please ensure that you enter the budget code AE7516010. Once you have completed this procedure, please send your claim to travel-advice@open.ac.uk for authorisation. You will also need to post your taxi receipt to: Travel Coordinator, Estates Dept located in Geoffrey Crowther Building.
- Once your request has been authorised you will be reimbursed through the travel and subsistence system in the usual way.
2. Outside office hours
- You can ring any taxi firm directly, but you must get a receipt and claim through the travel and subsistence system detailed above.
3. Longer distance car sharers
- If public transport is used instead of a taxi for the journey home, or for part of the journey home, receipts should still be obtained. Where possible Estates should be informed in advance that this will be happening.
4. Important information for Employees of Mulberry Bear Children's Centre
- If you are employed by Mulberry Bear Children's Centre then unfortunately you are not eligible for the Taxi Home arrangements of the Open University Journey Share Scheme.
If you have any comments or queries please email the Journey Share Administrator