A PRIVATE car hire firm is set to expand into a Scottish city after a £269 million deal this week.
London private taxi giant Addison Lee has agreed to be bought by a Singapore-based transport group for £269m, which is set to bring its services to cities outside the capital.
ComfortDelGro said the operator’s 7500 drivers and 5000 vehicles would be acquired by its subsidiary firm CityFleet Networks.
Addison Lee’s cars will expand into other UK cities including Aberdeen, Liverpool, the Wirral, Chester under CityFleet Network’s ownership, which runs its own private hire and black taxi services.
READ MORE: ScotRail services cancelled and delayed to and from Glasgow
ComfortDelGro is a Singapore-based transport firm which also owns the Metroline buses and Westbus coaches in London, Adventure Travel buses and coaches in Wales, and the Megabus, Scottish Citylink and Irish Citylink coach services.
The expansion into Aberdeen comes as Uber is also set to hit the city later this year.
It said the addition of Addison Lee will expand its taxi and private hire network to more than 34,000 vehicles around the world.
Addison Lee, which was founded in 1975 by Sir John Griffin, was previously owned by Sir John’s son Liam Griffin and Cheyne Capital.
It currently runs a premium car service in London, targeting business-related journeys across its fleet of vehicles, which include Mercedes cars.
Liam Griffin, who is also Addison Lee’s chief executive, said ComfortDelGro was a “perfect fit” for the company.
“They share our philosophy, vision, and ambition for the Addison Lee brand and bring significant international industry expertise to the business,” he said.
ComfortDelGro’s chief executive Cheng Siak Kian said: “Beyond expanding our footprint in the UK, this acquisition will enable us to leverage Addison Lee’s expertise to deepen and scale our premium point-to-point capability globally.”
Addison Lee has been aiming to make its standard passenger fleet all-electric and has been rolling out Volkswagen electric cars and vans.
ComfortDelGro said buying the company would help with its own plans to electrify its fleet.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel