Royal Cars Direct Debit

Home » Case Studies » Direct Debit Integration for Royal Cars

Client Overview

Royal Cars is a taxi and private hire operator in Oxford, working with hundreds of self-employed drivers. This project connects a new Direct Debit mandate application to DriverPay, our driver payments platform.

Introduction

Royal Cars needed a safe, simple way to collect a signed Direct Debit mandate from each of its drivers, matched to the driver number it already holds in iCabbi. Web Design MK built a secure Direct Debit mandate application for Royal Cars and connected it to DriverPay, our own driver payments platform, so any driver can be sent a personal set-up link in a couple of clicks.

The Challenge

Royal Cars works with hundreds of self-employed drivers, and each one needs a signed Direct Debit mandate that matches the number Royal Cars already holds for them in iCabbi. The mandate has to reach the bank in the standard format and carry the driver’s signature and details, and it has to be collected without bank details travelling by email or sitting in a system that was never meant to hold them.

Our Solution

A small, secure web application that does one job: capture a Direct Debit mandate and hand the completed form to Royal Cars. DriverPay creates a personal set-up link for the driver and sends it by email and in the driver app. The driver opens the link, checks their details, enters their bank details and signs electronically. Royal Cars is notified, reviews the submission in a private admin area and downloads the completed Word mandate, ready for the bank. Bank details stay on the Direct Debit application and are never stored in DriverPay or sent by email.

Implementation Process

We built the Direct Debit application on its own address, completely separate from the Royal Cars website and its email. Each link is personal, works once and expires after 30 days, and the request from DriverPay is protected by a private key so no one else can create links. Submitted bank details are stored encrypted, the admin area needs a sign-in, and notification emails to Royal Cars never contain bank details. In DriverPay we added a “Send Direct Debit link” button on each driver, using their iCabbi number, which can be switched on or off for each DriverPay customer. We also added emailed reminders, so drivers are nudged by email as well as in the app, and an optional archive to OneDrive or SharePoint that is built but switched off at Royal Cars’ request for now. Testing with Royal Cars started in September 2026 and the DriverPay link went live in October 2026.