Addison Lee is a British

private hire Taxicabs are regulated throughout the United Kingdom, but the regulation of taxicabs in London is especially rigorous with regard to mechanical integrity and driver knowledge. An official report observed that: "Little however is known about ...

cab and

courier A courier is a person or organisation that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are ...

company based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. It was founded in 1975 by

John Griffin John Griffin may refer to: Lawyers *John Griffin (judge) (1774/1779 – after 1823), American jurist and member of the Michigan Territorial Supreme Court, 1806–1823 *John Bowes Griffin (1903–1992), British lawyer, Chief Justice of Uganda and f ...

Founding

The company was founded by

as Pacecroft Limited in 1975. Griffin was convinced that his new company needed a name which started with an "A" for it to appear early in

telephone directory A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization tha ...

listings. A colleague who lived in a squat in Addison Gardens said people seemed to think this was a very posh address, which Griffin supplemented with Lee. Addison Lee was founded in 1975, with half the company owned by investor Lenny Foster.

Currently

The company operates a fleet of 4,000 vehicles with annual revenues of over £900m. The company carries out over 20,000 jobs every day. Addison Lee has achieved both the

ISO 9002 ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

and the

Investors in People Investors in People is a standard for people management, offering accreditation to organisations that adhere to the Investors in People Standard. From 1991 to January 2017, Investors in People was owned by the UK government. As of 1 February 20 ...

accreditation.

History

Takeover

In April 2013 it was announced that the

Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and pri ...

, a private equity firm, would be purchasing the company for an undisclosed sum, reported to be £300m. John Griffin initially remained as chairman with son Liam Griffin replacing Daryl Foster as CEO. The Carlyle Group intend to grow the firm nationally and internationally.

John Griffin departs, new senior hires

During 2014 Addison Lee announced several senior hires including Peter Boucher (CCO), Catherine Faiers (Ops Director), Gary Cust (Chief Council), Nick Kotsis (Data Scientist) and Nick Constantinou (Head of Marketing). In media interviews in October 2014 it was announced that founder John Griffin had stepped down earlier that year and is no longer involved with the company.

Technology

Addison Lee relies heavily on information technology to automate and streamline the process of managing the large number of drivers and jobs, through the use of driver

PDA PDA may refer to: Science and technology * Patron-driven acquisition, a mechanism for libraries to purchase books *Personal digital assistant, a mobile device * Photodiode array, a type of detector * Polydiacetylenes, a family of conducting poly ...

s, GPS tracking and text messaging. Addison Lee's use of technology has played an important part in reducing emissions and led to several awards, including Best Large Private Sector Fleet in

Energy Saving Trust Energy Saving Trust (EST) is a British organization devoted to promoting Efficient energy use, energy efficiency, energy conservation, and the sustainable energy, sustainable use of energy, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions and helping to p ...

Fleet Hero Awards 2011. Addison Lee is a member of

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the 1998 Greater London Authority referendum, Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first Directly elected may ...

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

’s "Green500" initiative. Addison Lee's software has also been applied to other industries by the company's software partner, Haulmont Technology. The first client announced was JBW, an Enforcement Agency company.

Controversy

In April 2012, Addison Lee's chairman John Griffin instructed all of its drivers to begin using bus lanes, against the will of Transport for London. Griffin argued that allowing only licensed black taxis to use the lanes was "unfair discrimination". Griffin also secured a judicial review against Hackney Carriage legislation saying it was archaic. John Griffin said the firm would "indemnify any fines or payments" that the firm's drivers would incur. In April 2012 the High Court ruled that Addison Lee could not encourage or instruct its drivers to use bus lanes. In the April 2012 edition of Addison Lee's corporate magazine ''Add Lib'', John Griffin used his editorial piece to voice his opinion that collisions with cyclists were unavoidable, and not the fault of his drivers. He concluded: "''It is time for us to say to cyclists, ‘You want to join our gang, get trained and pay up’''." This has caused a reaction from London's cycling community, including the

London Cycling Campaign The London Cycling Campaign (LCC) is an independent membership charity lobbying for better conditions for cycling in London. Its vision is to make London "a world-class cycling city". It is one of the largest urban cycling organisations in th ...

, CTC
Levenes Cycle
and the London Fixed-Gear and Single-Speed forum, who have started taking action boycotting Addison Lee cabs by leaving negative reviews on the company's iPhone app, organizing protests, and calling for people to lobby their companies to stop their Addison Lee accounts. Dr. Belinda Web started an e-petition with HM Government to have Addison Lee's license withdrawn. This caused a reaction from London's cycling community, including the

. On 26 April 2012, the Chief Procurement Officer confirmed that the UK Government (OP71) contract with Addison Lee would be terminated at the end of April 2012. In 2015, following reports that a small number of Addison Lee drivers had kicked same-sex couples out of their cars, the company introduced a diploma for its drivers, which includes equality training. In September 2017, Addison Lee lost a tribunal case brought by

Leigh Day Martyn Day is a British solicitor specializing in international, environmental and product liability claims who founded – and is the Senior Partner of – the law firm Leigh Day. He was a director of Greenpeace Environmental Trust, having st ...

, which sought to grant employees rights such as the minimum wage and holiday pay.

Accessibility

On 19 October 2015, Addison Lee introduced CycleCab, a new service allowing up to two passengers to travel in a cab with one bicycle. The service launched alongside the Six Day London track event at

Lee Valley VeloPark Lee Valley VeloPark is a cycling centre on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, England. It is owned and managed by Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, and it was opened to the public in March 2014. The facility was one of the pe ...

Former operations

Between July 2006 and April 2013, Addison Lee operated the

Redwing Coaches Redwing Coaches is a coach tour operator in London and Kent. History Redwing Coaches was founded in 1987 by Paul Campana. Initially based in Coldharbour Lane, in 2000 it relocated to Herne Hill. In July 2006, the business was sold to Addison ...

business.Redwing purchases Reliance
''RouteOne'' 3 June 2015

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Addison Lee Companies based in the City of Westminster Transport companies established in 1975 Taxi companies Taxis of London Motorcycle taxis 1975 establishments in England