Take Me rebrands its West Midlands operations; adds two more operators

Mark Bursa

Take Me group has rebranded its West Midlands operations as Take Me Birmingham, creating an 800-vehicle superfleet in the second city.

The acquisitive group has also made two further additions to its portfolio with the acquisitions of A1 Embassy and Wednesfield Radio Cars.

Wednesfield Radio Cars will become part of the Take Me Birmingham operation, joining a group of companies centred around Chelmsley Wood-based TC Cars. Other operators include Heritage Taxis, Direct Taxis and Premier Taxis, all of which are now operating under the Take Me brand.

Wednesfield Radio Cars has been operating as a family business for more than 30 years in the Wolverhampton and surrounding areas with a fleet of more than 120 vehicles.

Jim Sharr, who heads up the team at Wednesfield Radio Cars, said: “I know all the team here, including the office staff and drivers, are really excited about being part of the Take Me Group. It will be a pleasure to join the fastest growing UK private hire network.”

He added: “Joining with the other existing local taxi firms, and being part of the Birmingham Hub, will benefit our drivers. We will now be part of the larger West Midlands fleet, which will mean there will be a lot less dead mileage. Our drivers can pick up work on return journeys for example, and help them earn more.”

Take Me Group CEO David Hunter said: “Wednesfield Radio Cars is a really well run taxi firm, and we know we can really help bring them on to the next level with the support we can offer. We will add them into our Take Me Birmingham Hub, which already includes TC Cars, Direct Taxis, Premier Taxis and Heritage Cars, now all rebranded and operating to customers as Take Me Birmingham.”

Robert Woolaway from Take Me Group said technology would play a key role for the new addition to the Take Me portfolio. “We will quickly work with the team at Wednesfield to help bring our technology which will help their office staff, drivers and ultimately the customers will benefit. The phone apps, backend systems, websites and marketing will all be integrated as part of the Take Me Birmingham Hub,” he said.

Take Me’s other acquisition, A1 Embassy, will become part of Take Me’s north-west England operations. A1 Embassy has more than 40 years’ operating experience with cars in Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle-under -Lyme, Congleton, Crewe, Buxton, Knutsford, Werrington, Derby, Leek and Stafford, transporting more than 15,000 passengers a week.

Take Me CEO David Hunter said: “A1 Embassy is another great local company who will compliment our existing groups in the north-west areas.” Take Me’s north-west group already includes Intercity Private Hire in Stoke, Westside Taxis and Club Class.

A1 Embassy was acquired by Mohammad Rangzeb in 2015, and more recently has been run by Mahanas Rangzeb, Mobeen Rangzeb and Shahid Mehmood.

Mahanas Rangzeb said: “The team here at A1 Embassy are delighted to bring our 60-plus vehicle fleet to the Take Me Group. We know that they will help with our technology, as well as helping to grow our territory as we are now part of the north-west group which will mean less down time or wasted journeys for our drivers.”

Take Me started rolling out unified Take me branding across its UK operations last year, starting with its Leicestershire operation, formerly called ADT.

Take Me branding is now replacing the ADT logo on cars and premises of ADT, the company co-founded by Take Me group managing director David Hunter and which formed the core of the plan to grow a national brand.

Previously, the ADT brand had been applied in a similar style to the Take Me “speech bubble” with ‘powered by Take Me’ below. Now the branding has been flipped, with Take Me as the main logo and ‘powered by ADT’ as a supporting line.

Hunter said the plan was to roll out the branding across all Take Me operations over the coming months.