EE
O2
Vodafone
Three
giffgaff
Sky Mobile
SMARTY
Talkmobile
iD Mobile
Asda Mobile
Virgin Mobile
Missed call text service
for taxi & private hire drivers
You are driving. That is the job, and it is the one activity where answering the phone is both illegal and genuinely dangerous. Every call that comes in while you have a passenger in the back is a fare you cannot take and cannot even acknowledge.
Why drivers miss calls
You spend essentially your whole shift at the wheel. Handling a phone while driving carries penalty points and a fine, and with a passenger aboard it is not something any professional driver should be doing regardless. So the phone rings through every journey, and the caller assumes you are unavailable.
The maths
What one missed fare is worth
A single local fare is small. An airport run is not, and a regular — the customer who books the same 6am pickup every week, or the account that calls you first every time — is worth many hundreds over a year. Repeat work in this trade almost always begins with one call that got answered.
TextTheCaller is £6.49 a month. Set against the value of the work above, it only has to keep one caller from ringing the next name on the list to have paid for itself several times over.
What to write in your text
You write the message once and it goes out on every missed call. Here's one that works for taxi and private hire drivers:
Thanks for calling Kestrel Cars. I'm driving and can't answer. Text this number with your pickup, destination and time and I'll confirm as soon as I stop.
It sends from your business name
The caller sees your business name, not a phone number — so there's nothing for them to reply to. Give them something they can act on instead: a booking link, an email address, or a time you'll ring back.
160 characters
One SMS segment. The example above fits with room to spare, and we'll show you the count as you write so nothing gets cut off.
How it works
No app, no new number, no contract.
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1
Sign up with your mobile number
Enter your number, pick your network and set your business name. No password — we email you a magic link.
About 30 seconds
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2
Set unanswered-call forwarding
Follow the tailored dial-code or handset instructions for your carrier, then make a quick test call.
One time only
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3
Write your text-back
Use the example above or write your own. Next time a call rings out, the caller gets it within seconds.
Change it any time
It works on your existing number on every compatible UK network, and only ever triggers on calls you don't answer. Pick up as normal and nothing happens at all. If you want the general version before the taxi and private hire drivers detail, read the missed call text service overview.
Step two is the only one that changes depending on who your line is with. We have written the unanswered-call divert up for each network separately — EE, O2, Vodafone, Three, giffgaff, Sky Mobile, SMARTY, Talkmobile, iD Mobile, Asda Mobile and Virgin Mobile — because the menu names, the codes each one accepts and what happens after a SIM swap are genuinely different. If you are not sure where to start, the general guide to stopping calls going to voicemail covers the part that is the same everywhere.
Worth knowing for taxi and private hire drivers
Drivers often keep a cheap second SIM purely for work. Worth knowing that pay-as-you-go is the tariff on which diverting to an external number is most often restricted, whichever network it is on — so test it before your next shift rather than during it.
Questions from taxi and private hire drivers
Add them to the skip list and it will not. Most drivers add their regulars and any office or dispatcher they work with.
Yes. The divert is applied by the network before the call reaches your phone, so your coverage makes no difference.
Not to that message — it sends from your business name rather than a number. That is why the example asks them to text your number directly instead.
Also built for
Every missed call is a job someone else gets
Keep your number. Two minutes to set up. Cancel whenever you like.
7 days free, then £6.49/mo. Cancel any time.