Addison Lee owner flags sale

Founded 30 years ago with a single car in Battersea, the minicab firm is now the largest in Britain with a fleet of 4,500 black people carriers, completing more than 20,000 jobs a day and carrying 10m passengers a year.

Under Griffin and his family Addison Lee bought out five rivals in recent years but wanted extra funds to drive expansion outside central London and overseas.

Many of its customers are blue-chip companies with global operations who like to pre-book cabs. It is believed to be looking to move into markets such as Paris and New York.

At the time of Carlyle’s takeover, the private equity firm said that its ownership of Hertz, the rental car firm, and RAC, the breakdown service, gave it the expertise to enhance the fleet and technology.

Addison Lee has built a reputation for embracing modern practices, such as the use of GPS in 2003, and giving taxi drivers a more professional image.

Its workers wear shirts and ties, are trained for six weeks and are discouraged from talking to customers unless spoken to.

Mr Griffin Sr, a schoolboy boxer, was raised in Ireland, where he went to school with no shoes, and later Kilburn. He left an accountancy job to become a taxi driver when his father’s roads and sewers business fell on hard times.

He stepped down as chairman earlier this year, aged 72. His son Liam remains chief executive.

The founder had been surrounded by controversy in recent years. In April 2012, Addison lost its government contract after he instructed the company’s drivers to use bus lanes illegally. The firm was subsequently hit with a High Court injunction.

During the same month, Mr Griffin caused outrage by suggesting that cyclists were to blame for their own injuries in road accidents and if Londoners wanted to cycle on the roads, they should “get trained and pay up”.

The taxi industry has become a battleground in recent years as Addison Lee stole custom from London’s traditional black cabbies, and then faced rivalry from the sudden emergence of American tech start-up Uber.

This month, 10,000 black cab drivers blockaded London streets in protest against Uber, which they say is driving them out of business.

Similar protests took place in Madrid, Milan, Berlin and Paris.

Uber, founded in 2009 in San Francisco, now operates in more than 100 cities in 30 countries and has been valued at more than $18bn, a fivefold jump in a year.

It allows customers to locate and book nearby taxis with their smartphones. It has built up a vast network of cars very quickly by allowing anyone with a private hire vehicle licence to sign up as a driver.

Metered taxi operators are furious at the relaxed arrangement, which they claim has effectively led to the deregulation of their industry. They argue that it is an unsafe service because Uber drivers are not subject to the same stringent checks as those who operate black cabs.

Carlyle declined to comment.

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