founder john griffin headquarters london borough of camden england area served greater london services minicab revenue 200m divisions minicab coach courier motorcycle taxi citation needed website addisonlee.com addison lee is a london based private hire company . addison lee car contents 1 founding 2 current day 2.1 takeover 2.2 john griffin departs new senior hires 2.3 technology 2.4 controversy 2.5 accessibility 3 former operations 4 references 5 external links founding edit the company was founded by john griffin in 1975 . current day edit the company operates a fleet of 4 000 vehicles with annual revenues of over 200m . 1 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 . 1 the company carries out over 20 000 jobs every day . 2 addison lee has achieved both the iso 9002 and the investors in people accreditation . 2 takeover edit 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 . 3 john griffin departs new senior hires edit 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 . 4 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 5 technology edit 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 1.5 m 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 . 6 addison lee is a member of mayor of london boris johnson s green500 initiative . 7 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 . 8 controversy edit 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 . 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 driver to use bus lanes . 9 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 . 10 this has caused a reaction from london s cycling community including the london cycling campaign 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 . 11 12 dr. belinda webb started an e petition with hm government to have addison lee s license withdrawn . 13 this caused a reaction from london s cycling community including the london cycling campaign . on 26 april 2012 the chief procurement officer confirmed that the uk government contract with addison lee would be terminated at the end of april 2012 . 14 in 2015 following reports that a small number of addison lee drivers had allegedly kicked same sex couples out of their cars the company introduced a diploma for its drivers which includes equality training . 15 accessibility edit on 19 october 2015 addison lee introduced cyclecab a new service allowing up to two passengers to travel in a taxi with one bicycle . the service launched alongside the six day london track event at lee valley velopark . 16 former operations edit between july 2006 and april 2013 addison lee operated the redwing coaches business . 17 18 19 20 references edit a b teather david 2009 12 20 . minicab mogul has tight grip on wheel . london the guardian . archived from the original on 23 december 2009 . retrieved 2009 12 24 . a b background . addison lee . archived from the original on 3 july 2010 . retrieved august 15 2010 . london minicab firm addison lee sold for 300m . bbc news . 20 april 2013 . mortimer natalie 29 september 2014 . addison lee hires nick constantinou as head of marketing and product innovation as international expansion ramps up . the drum . lea robert 27 september 2014 . the manifesto addison lee sets sat nav for new york and beyond . the times . fleet hero awards 2011 . energy saving trust . retrieved may 5 2012 . addison lee website green500 . archived from the original on february 13 2012 . jbw group chooses haulmont technology for new enforcement control system . fleet industry news . bauer consumer media ltd. 17 february 2011 . tfl s high court injunction prevents addison lee from instructing its drivers to use bus lanes transport for london 26 april 2012 macmichael simon april 19 2012 . addison lee chairman provokes controversy with his views on london cyclist deaths . road.cc . burgess kaya 20 april 2012 . minicab chief cyclists have to expect to be hurt on roads . the times . walker peter 20 april 2012 . addison lee minicab boss s criticism of cyclists angers bike lobby . the guardian . london . petition withdraw addison lee s license . uk government and parliament . mulholland helene 27 april 2012 . addison lee loses government contract . the guardian . london . addison lee introduces equality training for its drivers . dial2donate . retrieved 24 august 2015 . addison lee now offers its services to cyclists and their bikes . dial2donate . retrieved 20 october 2015 . addison lee acquires redwing fleet news 24 july 2006 addison lee acquires redwing coaches acquisitions monthly october 2006 redwing coaches bus & coach buyer 17 august 2015 redwing purchases reliance routeone 3 june 2015 external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title addison lee & oldid 741634647 categories companies based in camdencompanies established in 1975taxicab companiestaxicabs of londonmotorcycle taxis1975 establishments in englandhidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles 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