Addison Lee
| Founded | 1975, Battersea, London |
|---|---|
| Founder | John Griffin |
| Headquarters |
London, NW1 United Kingdom |
|
Area served
|
Greater London |
| Services | Minicab |
| Revenue | £200M+ |
| Divisions | Minicab, Coach, Courier, Motorcycle taxi |
| Website | addisonlee.com |
Addison Lee is a London-based private hire company.
The company was founded by John Griffin in 1975.
The company operates a fleet of 4,000 vehicles with annual revenues of over £200m. As well as being a private hire operator, Addison Lee also operates a private coach company with a fleet of 100 coaches of various sizes. The company carries out over 20,000 jobs every day.
Addison Lee has achieved both the ISO 9002 and the Investors in People accreditation.
In April 2013 it was announced that the Carlyle Group, 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 replacing Daryl Foster as CEO (see below). The Carlyle Group intend to grow the firm nationally and internationally.
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
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 PDAs, GPS tracking and text messaging. The company annually spends £1.5m on IT, employing 24 programmers.
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 Fleet Hero Awards 2011. Addison Lee is a member of Mayor of London Boris Johnson’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, a bailiff company.
In April 2012, Addison Lee's chairman John Griffin instructed all 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.
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