John Griffin: a short biography

After leaving school I worked for a number of companies and then decided to become articled to an accountant with a view to understanding how to run a business and eventually qualify as an accountant. During this period my father expanded his roads and sewers building business. This expansion was risky and it led him into serious financial difficulties. I was forced to give up my apprenticeship and focus my efforts and limited experience on rescuing what I could of his company. In the meantime I had to find a job that would allow me to attend to my mission as and when I was needed. I found the perfect job opportunity in minicabbing, an occupation that many of my friends had undertaken on an occasional basis.

My efforts to rescue the family business were moderately successful and my father found employment as a clerk of works for Islington council. I, at this time had married and we had two sons. Their birth inspired me to move on from minicabbing. Looking around at the available opportunities I came to the conclusion that I could run my own minicab business a lot more successfully than the companies I had worked for.

I contacted a fellow driver on my circuit and set about starting a company that later became West One Cars. However the company I was working for persuaded me to stay with them by quadrupling my salary. Eventually however I did start out on my own. I decided that the company should have a name beginning with A, for listing purposes, and that the name should have an upmarket feel. A colleague in the office mentioned that when he told people that he lived in Addison Gardens they seemed to think that somehow this was a very posh address. I agreed with them and decided 'Addison' was a winner. It did not sound right on its own though so I added 'Lee' which sounded good to me, so Addison Lee was born.

The problem I had was that unlike 99% of all the people who start their own business, I really did start with nothing and as a result of this I was forced to sell half the business. It was a tough start as Addison Lee was then the smallest company in London where every doorway seemed to advertise a minicab firm.

The company grew steadily and I formed the Private Hire Car Association in 1976 (a title that was forced upon us as the word minicab was illegal) in response to the Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976.  As Chairman of the association I was involved in the painfully long debates that led to the licensing of the industry. The company moved from strength to strength and we now have over 2,000 drivers in the fleet, over 1,600 more than our nearest competitor. In the calendar year 2008 we will turn over £170 million between cash and account bookings. 

The two young boys who were my inspiration to start the company are now both married with two sons each and sit on the board as my fellow directors.

My partner, Daryl Foster, is the son of my original partner Lenny, who sadly died in 1992.  Daryl has been with us since 1977 and is now our Chief Executive.  My nephew, Peter Ingram, as our IT director has controlled and managed some of the most radical technological changes in the transport industry.

The secret of Addison Lee’s success lies not only in our commitment to technology but also in our respect for the driver, something that I learned from the long hours I worked in a very tough profession. The future looks bright and there is almost no end to what we can achieve.

We are in many ways London's best kept secret, very little advertising and minimal publicity. The time will come when we will be recognised not only as valuable part of London's transport network, but also as an organisation that has provided the dignity of employment to many thousands of people of different nationalities, all of whom we train to provide a level of service that will help us to expand and prosper over the coming years.

I am very proud that although my sons have both been in the business for over 12 years we have never had one cross word between us and since Addison Lee started in 1975 no driver has ever been found guilty of any offence against any passenger.
 

John Griffin, Chairman