Mileage Expenses - Dropping off at work

Hi all,

I've been confronted with an odd situation and need some guidance. A domestic cleaner (sole trader) with no employees normally cycles to and from her various clients. This she claims as a business expense at the standard 20p/mile rate.

However, due to the inclement weather this winter, her husband has been making several out-of-his-way trips to take her to and from her clients. Apparently these trips are wholly and exclusively for the purpose of getting her to her clients, and are not generally combined with other things (such as him taking her to work en route to his own workplace, or while he does the shopping rounds, or picks the kids up from school).

But it creates a situation where he does twice the distance because he (obviously) doesn't stay at the client's residence. The husband drives there, drops wife off, and by all accounts drives back to where he was and continues doing whatever it was he was doing. Then when it's time to pick her up again, drives off, picks her up, then drives her back home.

Under normal circumstances, were it the sole trader herself driving the car, she would simply drive to the clients, park outside, work, then drive home, and that would all rightly qualify as a Mileage Expense. However, I don't know whether the additional journeys where the husband returns back to where he was, and then goes back to pick her up again would qualify for the relief.

What do you think? I've looked for guidance on this online but found very little information on mileage allowances in the case where someone else drops the worker off at their variable place of work in a round trip that is exclusively for the purpose of that dropping off. There is also the fact that the husband is not an employee, so also doubtful as to whether she would be able to claim an expense on her account which was actually his expense. As there is no business link between them, I'm not sure that that would work.