Addison Lee
Addison Lee is a London-based private hire company.
Founding
The company was founded by John Griffin in 1975.
Current day
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.
Takeover
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.
John Griffin departs, new senior hires
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