Addison Lee is delighted to have won another prestigious environmental award, The Energy Saving Trust’s Fleet Hero award for large fleets.

The Fleet Hero awards aim to highlight best practice in fleet management. The awards aim to acknowledge organisations that are addressing climate change by reducing carbon emissions from business travel. Best practice will be recognised as these organisations demonstrate the way forward in green fleet management. This includes reducing the total mileage travelled, reduced emissions from private cars used on business, used technology innovatively, leading by example, or simply taking a series of sound steps that together have made a big difference.

Philip Sellwood, Chief Executive of the Energy Saving Trust commented: “The winners and runners up in the Fleet Hero Awards have taken simple, practical steps which not only help the environment but also help to save money and resources.  My congratulations go to them all.  They provide an example to any business or organisation that operates a fleet - no matter what size.”

This award is further confirmation of Addison Lee’s unwavering commitment to improving the environment in which we operate.  Since 2002, Addison Lee has employed a full-time Corporate Social Responsibility Manager and we have made subsequent reductions in emissions of 17.6%. 

Liam Griffin, Managing Director of Addison Lee commented: “Environmental awareness will continue to remain at the forefront of our business plans and we are delighted to have received further recognition of our efforts in this field”

Great to see Ronnie O’Sullivan safely into the second round of the Grand Prix - the first terrestrially televised tournament of the season.  Ronnie overcame a sluggish start to defeat the prodigiously talented Liang Wenbow 5-2, finishing the match with a century clearance to set up a second round meeting with reigning champion, Marco Fu.

Addison Lee is proud to be sponsoring Ronnie throughout the season and it’s great to see our logo displayed on his waistcoat.  We’ll keep you posted on his progress.

Following on from last week’s introduction, I am thrilled to report that my mail box has been swamped with literally no e-mails.  I have given much deliberation as to what will make interesting reading on this blog and have come up with very little so far!  As we are new to this, I thought I’d give you a little potted history of Addison Lee - Europe’s largest minicab company.

·   Addison Lee was established in 1975.  The name was created by our founders, John Griffin and Daryl Foster, our current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer respectively.  Contrary to popular belief, the names ‘Addison’ and ‘Lee’ have very little in common with….. well anything really.  Apparently, John was standing on Addison Road and liked the sound of it.  Daryl agreed and added the Lee for good measure.

·   Our Managing Director, Liam Griffin, was shortlisted for Young Entrepeneur of the Year in 2005.  The rumours that Liam is in the running for Old Entrepeneur of the Year in 2008 are largely unsubstantiated.

·   After being in business for nearly 30 years, Addison Lee completed the buyout of 3 major companies within a 3 year period.  In 2004, Anderson Young’s cars, clients and staff made the move from West to North London.  Redwing, London’s largest coach operator were purchased in 2006 and the following year, Blueback Cars became all black cars.

·   Addison Lee has over 10,000 registered clients, 2250 cars and employs over 700 people.

·   Addison Lee have been major shirt sponsors of The Londons Masters, held at Wembley, for the last 2 years.  Football remains a constant source of amusement within the office with the Director’s loyalties split between Arsenal and Tottenham.  As a gentle reminder, here is a brief look at the current Premier League table.

I would like to assure all readers that this table has not been printed upside down.

More to come tomorrow, but in the meantime, get those e-mails sent to jeremyb@addisonlee.com

Over the coming pages, we’ll keep you posted on all things Addison Lee.  From company news to industry updates, the aim of this blog is to take your mind off the price of shopping and offer a quirky look at the glamorous world of minicabs!

First up, it would be great to hear from you.  If you’ve got something you want to get off your chest, ping me an e-mail.  Keep it clean and I’ll do my best to post it here.  The first prize for the best post of the year will be a night out with the Addison Lee management team.  Second prize will be two nights out with the Addison Lee management team!

Send your thoughts to jeremyb@addisonlee.com