Passenger miles are only part of a driving day, but every empty mile is not automatically deductible either. The journey’s business purpose matters; leaving an app switched on does not turn a personal trip into work.
Record the purpose as well as the distance
- Passenger journeys: link the trip to your work record.
- Travel to a pickup: retain the booking or a note of the business purpose.
- Repositioning between jobs: distinguish genuine work travel from private detours.
- Shopping, school runs and other private journeys: mark them as private even if the app was online.
- Home-to-work and end-of-shift travel: review the actual working pattern; do not assume home is a qualifying business base.
Why home-to-first-job needs care
Whether travel from home is allowable depends on the facts, including the nature and base of the business and the destination. There is no reliable rule that all drivers can claim the first and last journey simply because they have no office. Describe your normal pattern and any regular workplace to your adviser.
A usable mileage log
Keep the date, start and end points, distance and business reason. Check automatic classifications, keep total odometer readings and retain the platform statements. Count a journey once even when several apps are running, and file any parking, toll or road-charge receipt against the trip it relates to.
The eligible simplified car rates for 2026/27 are 55p for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p after that; the first band was 45p before 6 April 2026. Eligibility, previous claims and the correct period still need checking. Read mileage versus actual costs before calculating a claim.
Our mileage tracking service helps build the record system. Use the free tracker to organise journeys, with uncertain travel marked for review rather than automatically treated as allowable.
A sample week of log decisions
Synthetic examples of individual entries, not a complete shift log or automatic approval of every journey:
| Entry | Miles | Record decision |
|---|---|---|
| Monday: travel to a booked pickup | 6 | Record the booking reference and business purpose. |
| Tuesday: passenger journey | 18 | Link to the trip statement. |
| Wednesday: repositioning for the next job | 7 | Note the work reason; remove any personal detour. |
| Thursday: collect personal shopping | 4 | Mark private even with an app online. |
| Friday: home to a regular waiting location | 9 | Flag for review of working pattern; do not automatically claim. |
For each entry retain the date, locations and distance evidence. Resolve the flagged home journey before including it in a deduction. The tracker can organise the log but cannot decide the legal character of travel.
Sources checked 8 October 2026: Mileage.
Journey guidance: HMRC travel expenses.
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