Posted By Jane Blunt
Yes, the use of a private car to transport an injured/ill person home is, I believe, use for business purposes and it is not covered by normal car insurance. It is possible to get one's insurance extended to cover this, but if the ailments/injuries are only minor I would stick with the current policy.
Jane

Posted By Ed Carter
Gavin,
The system we use,if it helps, is that where a student has to be sent home for the sort of reasons you describe,we use local taxi's from approved companies within our area.
The companies submit a quarterly invoice which is cross referred with our accident recording system. If matched, we pay. If not the bill is referred to the relevant School or Support Service for payment.
This is also the system we used for our casualties that are deemed as needing more than just first aid but not requiring the services of an ambulance.
Hope this is of use.
Ed

Posted By Graham Bullough
This topic is pertinent for schools and colleges generally. For cases of injury or illness which require urgent attention, calling an ambulance is the only option. For schools, certainly in my local area, cases considered by school nurses/first aiders to be non-urgent, result in phone call to a parent or other relative (schools ought to have a pecking order of contacts) to come and take the pupil home or to hospital. However, there is no guarantee that any of the contacts can be contacted, be available or have a vehicle. Therefore, schools then tend to resort to having a willing member of staff transport an injured/unwell pupil (and sometimes a car-less relative)in their car either home or to hospital. Depending on nature of the case, it may also be appropriate to have another member of staff travel as well - so that the driver can concentrate on driving. If the casualty is going to hospital, someone needs to stay with the casualty while they wait at hospital ("loco parentis" and all that), at least until a relative can arrive. Travelling times and distances will also have a bearing on each case and influence the policy adopted by each school or college.

The comments made by other responders about drivers needing to concentrate on driving apply equally to taxi/hire car drivers as they do to college/school staff driving their own vehicles. Therefore, each case needs to be assessed as to who should accompany the casualty. Where college students are concerned, it may be even sufficient for them in some cases to be accompanied by a willing fellow student.

As for employees extending their car insurance cover to include "business" or "occasional business" use, I understand that some insurers charge little or nothing extra for such cover. Therefore, it's worthwhile for employees checking and asking about "business use", if only to clarify what constitutes "business use". Even carrying a parcel from one premises to another during working hours could be deemed by insurers to be "business use". For claims which arise during business journeys by drivers without "business use" being included in their insurance cover, it is foreseeable that some insurers could refuse to meet such claims, even where the circumstances of such journeys did not contribute to such claims. However, no doubt other forum viewers with better knowledge of the insurance industry could add their advice about "business use" cover.