Privacy
This page explains what Coach Buddy holds about you, why, who else is involved and how to delete it.
Last updated: 21 October 2026
Who we are
Coach Buddy is run by Don't Travel Empty Limited (company 06622058), 16a Chapmans Yard, Elton Way, Watford WD25 8HB. We decide what information Coach Buddy holds and how it is used, which makes us the controller of that information under data protection law.
To ask anything about your information, email [email protected].
What we hold about you
Your email address and sign-in codes
You sign in with your email address. There is no password. We send a six-digit code to your email, and it stops working after ten minutes or once it has been used. We keep a scrambled copy of each code (not the code itself) so we can check what you type and limit how many codes can be asked for.
Quick set-up
When you first sign in we ask for:
- your country — the United Kingdom or Ireland;
- a display name, if you want one. This is optional. Whatever you choose is what appears beside what you contribute. If you leave it blank you appear as “a driver”. Once set, it cannot be changed in the app; email us if you need it changed.
We also record that you have agreed to the driver charter and seen the note about using the app only when parked.
We do not ask for your full name.
The devices you are signed in on
For each phone, tablet or computer you sign in on, we keep a short label such as “Chrome on Android” and when it was last used, so that you can see your devices and sign any of them out from your account screen. We do not keep your browser's full identifying details.
Saved places
If you save a place, we keep a record of which places you saved so the list is there when you come back.
Places you have recently searched for are kept on your device only and are not sent to us.
What you send us about places
You can suggest a correction to a fact, suggest a new place, add a photo, tell us something about a place, or report something you think is wrong. We keep what you send, when you sent it, and which account it came from, so that a person at Don't Travel Empty can review it and, if needed, contact you to ask about it. Nothing you send is shown to other drivers until a person has approved it.
Where something you sent is published, it shows your display name, or “a driver” if you did not choose one.
If you choose to hide another contributor so that you no longer see what they send, we keep that choice for you. It changes nothing that anybody else sees.
Photos
When you add a photo of a place, we keep a record of what it shows, when it was taken, and a fingerprint of the image so the same photo cannot be sent twice. Every photo is reviewed by a person before it appears.
If the photo is taken with the camera in the app, we keep the position your phone gave at that moment as private evidence that the photo was taken at the place. Staff use it to check the photo. It is never shown to other drivers; they see at most whether the photo was taken near the place. If you choose a photo from your library instead, we do not keep a position for it.
Hidden details inside the image file, such as the time and position it was taken, are removed from the version that is published. If a photo is rejected, the original is deleted and only its fingerprint is kept, so the same image cannot be sent again.
Photos are kept on Coach Buddy's server in London. The photo as you sent it can be opened only by Don't Travel Empty staff, and each time they open it they must give a reason, which is recorded with their name. The copy other drivers see is redrawn and made smaller, which removes the time and position stored inside the picture file.
Your location
Coach Buddy only asks your phone for its position when you ask for something that needs it, such as places near you. Before your phone shows its own permission prompt, the app tells you why it is asking. You can say “Not now” and search for a town, postcode or place instead.
- Places near you. Your phone's position is sent with the request so we can find places near you. We use it to answer that request and do not save it. It is not written to our web server's logs.
- No tracking. The app asks for a position once at a time. It does not follow your phone, and it does not use your location when the app is closed.
- When you confirm a fact or tell us about a place. If you say you are at the place now, your phone's position is used to work out how far you are from it. We keep only a band — under 100 metres, under 500 metres, or further — never the position itself.
- When you suggest a new place. The new place is pinned where your phone says you are, and that pin is kept as the place's position. You can see it on screen before you send it.
- Photos are described above.
- When you search. What you type in the search box is sent by our server to find matching places: a postcode or town to postcodes.io, and, once you stop typing, an address or place name to openrouteservice. Nothing that says who you are is sent, and we do not keep what you typed or what comes back.
- Places between two points. If you use this feature, what you type in the start and end boxes is sent by our server to find matching places: a postcode or town to postcodes.io, and an address to openrouteservice. The start and end points you pick are rounded on your phone to about 100 metres and sent to openrouteservice, a route service, to draw a guide line. Nothing that says who you are is sent, and we do not keep any of it. Your phone keeps your last few journeys until you sign out or delete your account.
Relief work
If you join relief work as a driver
We keep the relief name you choose, your postcode district (such as GL50, never your full postcode), how far you will travel, the kind of work you want, when you are free, and a short note if you write one. If you choose to be findable, coach companies approved by Don't Travel Empty can see these. Your relief name and note are shown as you wrote them; a person does not read them first. Coach companies never see your email address unless you say yes to them.
Your listing stops showing to coach companies if you have not confirmed your availability for four weeks and three days. We email you at three weeks, and a last reminder at four weeks, three days before it stops showing.
Getting in touch
When you say you are interested in a shift, we email the coach company your relief name and which shift. When a coach company asks to get in touch, nothing is shared until you answer. If you say yes, we email the coach company your email address, and email you theirs, with their phone number if they gave one. If you say no, they are told only that you said no. What you agree after that is between you and the coach company. Coach Buddy takes no part in it and never handles pay.
If you join as a coach company
We keep the business name, the business email address and phone number, the operator licence number and the postcode district you work from. A person at Don't Travel Empty looks up the operator licence on the government's public licence search before you can look for drivers, and checks every shift before drivers see it. We record who did that and when.
What we never hold
We do not hold your driving licence, your date of birth, your vehicle registration, who you work for, your phone number, or where you are when the app is closed. Relief work asks a driver for none of these either. There is no advertising and no profiling. What you contribute is never shared with your employer, and nothing in Coach Buddy groups or counts contributions by employer.
Why we use your information
| What | Why | Legal reason |
|---|---|---|
| Email address and sign-in codes | To sign you in and keep your account yours. | Contract: we need it to give you the account you asked for. |
| Display name, country, charter agreement | To set up your account and show what you contribute under the name you chose. | Contract. |
| Devices | So you can see where you are signed in and sign devices out. | Contract. |
| Saved places | To keep your list for you. | Contract. |
| Suggestions, feedback, photos and reports | So a person can review them, keep the facts in Coach Buddy up to date, and contact you if they need to ask about something you sent. | Legitimate interests: keeping the facts other drivers rely on accurate. |
| The near-or-not-near band, and a photo's position | So a check made at a place can be told apart from one made somewhere else. A check nobody can look at again is worth little to other drivers. | Legitimate interests: showing other drivers how a fact was checked. We keep only a band, never your position, and a photo's position is never shown. |
| Relief listing, shifts and contacts | To let drivers and coach companies find each other, and to pass on contact details only when a driver says yes. | Contract: you joined relief work and asked us to do this. |
The law asks us to name a legal reason for each use. “Contract” means we need the information to give you the account and the features you signed up for. “Legitimate interests” means we have a genuine reason to use it, we have weighed that against your privacy, and you can object to it by emailing us.
Who else is involved
- Cloudflare sits in front of Coach Buddy and passes your requests to us. It keeps its own records of requests.
- Google Workspace sends your sign-in code to your email address.
- Google Cloud runs Coach Buddy's server and database, in London.
- openrouteservice finds addresses typed in search and in the start and end boxes, and draws the guide line for places between two points from start and end points rounded to about 100 metres. It is run by HeiGIT in Germany, is asked by our server, and is not told who you are.
- postcodes.io finds postcodes and towns typed in search and in the start and end boxes. It is asked by our server and is not told who you are.
Map pictures are fetched by our server, so your device does not contact the map provider directly. We do not sell your information and we do not use advertising networks or analytics suppliers.
Coach Buddy's server and database are in London. Cloudflare and Google are American companies, and some information may be handled outside the UK, for example when Cloudflare passes on a request or Google sends your sign-in email. Where that happens it is covered by the UK's data protection arrangement with the United States (the UK-US data bridge) or by the UK's standard contract terms for sending information abroad.
How long we keep it
We keep your account information until you delete your account. Sign-in codes stop working after ten minutes. Records of used and expired sign-in codes are deleted 24 hours after the code was sent.
A relief driver's listing, and every contact linked to it, is deleted when they leave relief work or delete their account. A coach company's details and shifts are deleted when its account is deleted. A shift stops showing the day after its last date.
Facts you contributed that other drivers rely on stay after you delete your account, but are no longer linked to you and read “a driver”. A photo's private position is kept for as long as the fact it supports is shown. The delete your account page explains exactly what goes and what stays.
Your rights
You can ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, object to how we use it, or ask us to limit how we use it. Email [email protected].
You can delete your account yourself at any time from the account screen in the app.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) in the UK, or the Data Protection Commission (dataprotection.ie) in Ireland. We would like the chance to put things right first, so please contact us.
Children
Coach Buddy is for working coach and minibus drivers and is not meant for children. You must be 18 or over to have an account.
Changes to this page
If we change what Coach Buddy holds or how it is used, we will update this page and change the date at the top.