John Patrick Griffin (born 1 August 1942) is a British businessman. He is the founder of

Addison Lee Addison Lee is a British private hire cab and courier company based in London, England. It was founded in 1975 by John Griffin (businessman), John Griffin. Founding The company was founded by John Griffin (businessman), John Griffin as Pacec ...

cab and courier company.

Early life

John Patrick Griffin was born on 1 August 1942 in the UK to a

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

contractor father. He was raised in Kilburn from 9 years old attending

Finchley Catholic High School (''Grant that we may be truly wise'') , established = 1926 , closed = , type = Voluntary aided school , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic , president = , head_label = Headmistress , head = Niamh Ar ...

. However, he left school with no qualifications after contracting

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

from drinking the milk of a cow he had milked on a school visit to a farm.

Career

While Griffin was training as an accountant, his father's road and sewer building business got into financial difficulty.My first million: John Griffin
''The Financial Times'', July 7, 2011 Griffin left accountancy training to help salvage the business, with some success. During this period, and wanting a flexible job to create extra income, Griffin started working as a

minicab 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 ...

driver which turned into a full-time job. Griffin eventually decided to move on from driving minicabs, deciding he could do a better job of running a minicab business. Together with another driver, he set about starting a company which today is known as West One Cars. However, Griffin was convinced to stay on with his original employer after his salary was quadrupled and only later decided to form his own company. Griffin was convinced that his new company needed a name which started with an "A" for it to appear early in telephone directory 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. In 1976, Griffin founded the Private Hire Car Association in response to the Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976. As chairman of the association, Griffin was vocal in the debate that led to the licensing of

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 ...

operators in the UK. He appeared on the television programme, '' The Secret Millionaire'' in December 2009. He stepped down as chairman of Addison Lee in 2014, shortly after private equity firm

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 ...

purchased a majority stake in the company in a deal worth £300 million.

Political affiliations

He is one of the top 20 donors to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

.Elizabeth Rigby, Gavin Jackson, George Parker, 'Tories double number of big City donors in five years: Miliband attacks 'party of Mayfair hedge funds and Monaco tax avoiders',' ''The Financial Times'', 5 February 2015, p. 1

Philanthropy

He is an "Enterprise Fellow" of The Prince's Trust.The Prince's Trust: John Griffin: Founder and Chairman, Addison Lee
/ref> He has also made charitable contributions to the Variety Club Golf Society.

Personal life

He resides in Potters Bar,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, north of London, with his partner, Rita. He has two sons,

Liam Liam is a short form of the Irish name Uilliam or the old Germanic name William. Etymology The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these elem ...

and Kieran, who both work for Addison Lee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, John Living people 1942 births People from Kilburn, London British business executives Conservative Party (UK) people Conservative Party (UK) donors British company founders Businesspeople from London