It hopefully hasn’t gone unnoticed that Addison Lee’s efforts to reduce the negative effect of our business on the environment has been fairly relentless.  In addition to the recognition we have received in the shape of prestigious awards from the Energy Savings Trust and the accolades bestowed upon us by the London Green 500, there are constant behind the scenes efforts made by our Corporate Social Responsibility team.  The environmental issue is clearly not going to go away in a hurry.  Companies such as Addison Lee have a definite obligation to source the ‘greenest’ methods of transport and fuel, which leads nicely on to one of the most contentious subjects of all - hybrid vehicles. 

The private hire industry has undoubtedly seen an upsurge of smaller firms adding hybrid vehicles to their fleet, with some companies opting only  to have non-diesel cars.  The concept appears to be very noble, but what it is not often reported is the methodology involved in creating these battery operated ‘runarounds.’

It is a popular misconception that the Toyota Prius is the greenest vehicle on the road.  In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. 

The Prius is powered by not one, but two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-litre gas engine found in most cars today and an additional battery powered engine that deals out 67 horsepower and 295ft/lbs of torque below 2000 revolutions per minute. Essentially, the Toyota Synergy Drive System, as it is so called, propels the car from a dead stop to up to 30mph. This is where the largest percent of gas is consumed. The battery is recharged through the braking system and when the gasoline engine takes over anywhere above 30mph.
Building a Toyota Prius causes considerably more environmental damage than a standard diesel car.  As previously mentioned, the Prius is partly driven by a battery, which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario.  The plant produces 1,000 tons of nickel annually and has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding landscape that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The surrounding area is devoid of any life for miles.
It was reported by the Canadian Greenpeace energy coordinator, David Martin, that the acid rain around Sudbury was so severe that all plant life was destroyed and the soil slid off the hillside.
However, the environmental damage does not stop at the plant.  The nickel is subsequently transported via massive container ships to the largest nickel refinery in Europe.  From there, the nickel is flown to China to produce ‘nickel foam.’ From China, it is then sent to Japan and finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the country of sale, completing a multi-continent journey required to produce a single Prius battery.

Addison Lee has given considerable thought to adding hybrid vehicles into our fleet.  As London’s largest minicab company and with a proud history of reinvesting profits into innovation and technological advancements, if we considered it to be both environmentally friendly and better for our clients, we wouldn’t hesitate to do so.  However, it is our absolute belief that this simply isn’t the case.

Your opinions would be very welcome.  Click on the no comments tab, or e-mail me at jeremyb@addisonlee.com

At past midnight on Sunday, Ronnie O’Sullivan clinched his 4th Masters crown with a thrilling 10-8 victory over the defending champion, Mark Selby, at Wembley Arena.  Ronnie, who is sponsored by Addison Lee was understandably thrilled with the title, particularly as he was playing with a brand new cue.  Before the tournament started, Ronnie deliberately smashed his old cue, as he was frustrated with the way he had been playing.  Maybe I should try throwing my keyboard out of the window to become a better writer!

Hearty congratulations to Ronnie from all at Addison Lee.

Much talk in the news these last few weeks about the proposed third runway at Heathrow, culminating in final approval from the transportation secretary, Geoff Hoon, in Parliament on Tuesday. 

Many of the people opposed to the building of the runway are gravely concerned about the damaging environmental impact that the extra traffic will create.  However, the arguments on both sides are compelling.  Some experts have reported that as many as 65,000 jobs could be created - a welcome boost in the current economic difficulties.  The government is also insistent that failing to create more space for arrivals and departures could see the airport losing vital revenue to our European neighbours such as Paris or Berlin.  Protesters counter this statement with the argument that the majority of flights handled by Heathrow are domestic and therefore offer no threat of lost business.

On the flip side, the residents of the village of Sipson are understandably horrified at the prospect of losing their homes to make way for the flight path.  It is a sobering thought that the entire village would have to be knocked down to make way for the planes. 

Heathrow currently operates at 99% capacity and has been plagued by complaints of delays, overcrowding at terminals, lost luggage and poor customer service in recent years.  The launch of Terminal 5 last year was an unmitigated disaster and created more bad press for the already under fire British Aviation Authority - the owners of Heathrow Airport. 

The subject is clearly far from closed.  To begin building the runway, the BAA will first have to obtain planning permission from local Government in Hounslow, where it is believed local officials are vehemently opposed to the project.  When the decision was announced in Parliament, one Labour MP, John McDonald, was so incensed by the decision that he rushed out of his seat, seized the mace - a 17th century ornamental club that represents the authority of the monarch and the speaker of Parliament - and set it down furiously on the Labour benches.  Apparently, this is a bit naughty in Parliamentary circles and he was promptly suspended for 5 days.  Maybe he was after a week off!

In all seriousness, this is a highly emotive issue and the chances of further opposition and demonstration are almost odds-on.  You will probably have noticed this has been a non Addison Lee or minicab blog entry today, but this will, of course, affect us as well.

Addison Lee carries out over 6000 airport transfers to and from Heathrow every week.  Our minicab rank ensures that we meet passengers from their planes on-time despite the occasional chaos of the airport.  A third runway would inevitably create more flights and therefore more work for Addison Lee.  However, it should not go unmentioned that Addison Lee is a company who have focused intently on the environmental effect of transport in the capital - maybe we won’t take sides just yet.

Once again, Addison Lee has been publicly recognised for our environmental initiatives and this time the accolades have come straight from the mouth of The Mayor of London.  Boris Johnson yesterday congratulated several ‘household name’ companies, including Addison Lee, for their work with The London Green500, an organisation commited to helping large businesses reduce their carbon emissions.

In the past 2 years, Addison Lee has reduced the amount of ‘dead’ mileage covered by our minicabs by an astonishing 18,000 miles each day.  As a company, the financial benefits of initiatives such as this are tangible and we expect to save £185,000 over a three year period simply as a result of our allocation software and the sheer number of minicabs we have on the road.  The joint benefit of cost reduction and environmental improvement was reflected in Boris Johnson’s speech.  Speaking at City Hall yesterday, the Mayor said: “In lean economic times, there are real financial savings to be made for businesses by becoming more energy efficient, helping them to remain competitive.”

As we all know, Addison Lee have been banging hard on the environmental drum for several years and this further recognition makes all the hard work worthwhile.  Addison Lee Managing Director, Liam Griffin said: “We are delighted to be recognised by the Mayor for our achievements in carbon reduction in the capital and are proud to be part of the Green500 group of climate leaders.  Joining Green500 is a win-win situation for us; in tough economic times we are taking positive steps to boost our efficiency and save money, as well as doing our bit to reduce our carbon footprint.”

For the fifth consecutive year, Addison Lee will be exhibiting at The Business Travel Show at Earls Court 2 from February 10th to February 12th.  As ever, the show will be an excellent opportunity for our sales team to promote Addison Lee as London’s largest and most reliable minicab company.  However, this year we have even more reason to blow our own trumpets.  As we have known for sometime, Addison Lee are the only minicab company capable of delivering an on-demand pick up response time of within 15 minutes throughout Central London.  The trouble is, not everyone outside of Addison Lee knows this yet!

At this year’s show, Addison Lee will have our biggest site ever, with a 30m squared space.  Clients will have the opportunity to discuss recession busting account tariffs and our sales and account management teams will be on hand to answer any queries about Addison Lee or the minicab industry in general.  For that extra special touch, we will also be offering a complimentary shoe shining service to anyone visiting our stand and we will also be producing our very own Addison Lee newspaper to be handed out at the venue.

We’ll look at the Business Travel Show and what Addison Lee will be doing to promote our brand in more detail nearer the time. 

http://www.businesstravelshow.com

Cheers  JB

Welcome to 2009 everyone and for me personally, it’s great to be back at Addison Lee.   

Amidst the doom and gloom of the economic predictions and the arctic temperatures, it’s nice to to focus on some cheery news.  The first ray of light of the New Year is the news that our motorbike couriers can now share the previously land mined bus lanes with our friends from the dark coloured minicabs, occasionally referred to as black taxis!  The new legislation, which came into effect yesterday morning, applies to all red route bus lanes and covers over 180 miles of road.  The trial will run for 18 months and Addison Lee will be looking for feedback from all our courier riders as to how they believe the experiment is working.  Whilst our bikes have always been pretty adept at beating the traffic in the city, it’s good to know that they now have a few more inches of space to manouvre about in.

Cheers.  Jeremy