Professional Driver Magazine November Awards Special 2022

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STORY A Night of Glory – all the winners at the 2022 Professional Driver QSi and Car of the Year Awards dinner

The 2022 Professional Driver QSi Awards

Environment Award

Business Diversification Award

Marketing Award

Community Award

New-Start Business Award

Chauffeur Company of the Year (1-10 vehicles)

Chauffeur Company of the Year (11+ vehicles)

Private Hire Company of the Year

Professional Driver of the Year

The 2022 Professional Driver Car of the Year Awards

Private Hire Car of the Year

Heroes and villains

Watching the news the other day I was reminded of the 2017 QSi Awards. A recent report into how the emergency services responded to the Manchester Arena bombings that year was highly critical. They let the victims down.

But there was a fourth emergency service on duty – the taxi and private hire sector. And at the 2017 QSi Awards we rewarded the efforts of the north-western operators and drivers with a special award.

This industry did not let anyone down that night – in fact their efforts in getting people home safely showed exceptional dedication and professionalism.

The same applied during the pandemic, where taxi operators delivered food and medicines, transported the vulnerable and took key NHS workers to their jobs, despite financial hardships and a lack of regular customers.

But the industry’s efforts are not being matched by national or local governments. The private hire and taxi operators and drivers are the ones who are being let down.

We’re through the pandemic, but now we face new problems. A cost of living crisis. Rising fuel prices –and electricity prices for those who have switched to electric cars. A shortage of drivers. A shortage of cars.

On top of that we are faced with intransigent regulators, too busy enforcing petty rules and policies that have been overtaken by events.

Transport for London is perhaps the worst culprit. It takes longer than ever – up to 10 months – to

process a driver’s license at a time when this needs speeding up. Rules about electric vehicles that were made in 2015 are rigidly maintained – even though the infrastructure is woefully inadequate and the supply of suitable cars for chauffeuring has been almost nonexistent.

And now the ULEZ is to be extended to all London boroughs – bringing minimal improvements in air quality and penalising the poorest residents. But hey, it’ll raise millions and you can have a free bus pass by way of compensation.

Earlier this year the Government asked for opinions on how the taxi and private hire industry should be structured. Professional Driver provided a detailed submission to the consultation, and we have been leading the call for proper national standards in the industry – which would solve a lot of the problems.

Until someone listens to the industry, all we can do is keep on keeping on. Doing what we do to the best of our abilities. And that’s why we created the QSi Awards in 2013 – to celebrate the best among us, and shine the spotlight on their efforts.

Next year, the QSi Awards hits a major landmark – it’s the 10th anniversary of the industry’s only national operator and driver awards. We’ll be planning something special to mark this milestone – stay tuned for developments, and we’ll see you there!

Mark Bursa Editor markbursa@prodrivermags.com

The big kick-off!

In thIs specIal Issue of Professional Driver, you’ll be able to read about who were the big winners at the ninth annual QSi and Car of the Year awards.

The Professional Driver QSi Awards is the private hire, taxi and chauffeur industry’s favourite party. We returned in 2022 to the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, South Wales – our guests liked it so much last year that it was a no-brainer to go back this year.

With impeccable timing, we made sure our event took place on the same date as the historic World Cup football match between England and Wales – there were cheers as England’s three goals went in – and a sense of resignation among our Welsh attendees that the best team won – which is the ethos behind the QSi Awards too!

Those who made the trip were treated to a night to remember as we rewarded the best operators and drivers with Gold, Silver and Bronze QSi Awards.

In addition, we revealed our Cars of the Year for 2022. We’re very proud of our Car of the Year Awards – they are the most thorough reader-judged car awards anywhere in the automotive industry. There were some close contests in our seven categories too, following record numbers of test drives at our Epsom judging days in the Summer.

We also had some great QSi battles for gold, with past champions battling it out against some tremendous first-time entries. Judging the winners is certainly getting harder and harder each year, and we’d like to thank our expert judges Jon Hill, Mike Galvin, Steve Sommerfeld, David Goldring and Gary Jacobs for going the extra mile in helping us make the right choices for Gold, Silver and Bronze.

This year’s ceremony was expertly helmed by our regular host, broadcaster and racing driver Amanda Stretton. And the band and the aftershow party carried on well into the small hours. We’d like to thank all the sponsors that continue to support the QSi event – you make it possible.

The pictures over the next few pages are designed to give a flavour of the evening. See who you can spot!

We launched our Operator Partnership Programme in January 2022. Since then, we’ve provided operators with free tax workshops and training for their drivers, as well as onboarding and driver status support.

We’ve now helped thousands of drivers with their tax woes, and we aren’t stopping anytime soon.

Would you like us to come to your office and give free tax workshops for your Drivers? You can also get confidential advice on VAT issues, Tax Checks and Making Tax Digital.

Contact David Nagler or visit our website for more information.

eazitax.co.uk/operators

Environment Award

There’s no bigger issue than the environment, and the QSi Environment Award recognises companies that have shown a genuine commitment to adopting environmentally-friendly policies that have made a positive impact.

Our Gold winner is Addison Lee. The company has made a massive commitment to electrifying its entire fleet – it’s a big fleet –and backing up that initiative with innovative schemes to help drivers access charging facilities – even those without off-street parking.

The Silver award goes to a small company that has big ideas about thinking green. Your Local Car merged its back office with other businesses in a bid to cut energy costs, and it has made saving across the business by as cutting back on printed cards and leaflets. Its first electric cars have also joined the fleet – a big investment for a small firm.

The Bronze award goes to Parkers Executive of Newcastle-up-on-Tyne, a company that has undertaken a thorough re-evaluation of everything it does to make sustainability the cornerstone of its business. That means everything from electric vehicles to smarter scheduling – to encouraging its workers to cycle or walk to work.

Roll of Honour

2021 Gold GLH, London

Silver Belgraves of London, Sutton

Bronze Parkers Executive, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

2019 Gold DG Group, Nottingham

Silver 001 Taxis, Oxford

Bronze GLH, London

2018 Gold Greentomato Cars, London

Silver DG Cars, Nottingham

Bronze Parker Car Service, London

2017 Gold Addison Lee, London

Silver Greentomato Cars, London

Bronze Cloud Cars, Nottingham

2016 Gold

Addison Lee, London

Silver eConnect Cars, London

Bronze Cloud Cars, Nottingham

Bronze GLH,London

2015 Gold eConnect Cars, London

Silver Addison Lee, London

Bronze Go Green Taxis, Didcot

2014 Gold eConnect Cars, London

Silver Phoenix Taxis, Blyth

Bronze Greentomato Cars, London

2013 Gold Climatecars, London

Silver GLH, London

Bronze Cloud Cars, Nottingham

The Winners

Gold Addison Lee, London

Silver Your Local Car, Camberley Bronze Parkers Executive, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Gold

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Business Diversification

We introduced this last year to reward initiatives to develop new lines of business during the pandemic. Covid certainly made these initiatives more important as a way of keeping cars and drivers working when the regular business had disappeared, but we’re glad to see that the industry has kept on innovating now the worst is hopefully behind us.

Our Gold winner is GLH. The London firm has always provided a service for transporting NHS patients, but it has turned this into a major strand of its business, by introducing a new booking system to streamline hospital booking and new driver training to bring drivers on board just to do patient transfers.

By winning this QSi Award, GLH has maintained its proud record of winning a QSi award every year since the first ceremony back in 2013.

Silver goes to last year’s Gold winner in this category, Nottingham’s DG Cars. Introducing delivery services saw it through the pandemic relatively unscathed. Now it’s growing, and it’s doing so by investing in its drivers –a new training facility is helping it ride the recession by training men –and women – to drive for the company.

The Bronze winner suffered the loss of 99% of its business during the pandemic. But Blacklane’s route to recovery was through innovation, launching a host of new services, including long-distance, fixed price journeys, app-based bookings and a dedicated electric car service. Now it’s bouncing back stronger than ever.

The Winners

Gold

GLH, London

Silver DG Cars, Nottingham

Bronze Blacklane, Berlin

Roll of Honour

2021

Gold DG Cars, Nottingham

Silver Need-A-Cab, Plymouth

Bronze Cabs Smart, Ipswich

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Marketing Award

Which companies promote their operations in the most creative and original way? The QSi Award for Marketing aims to find out. The judges were looking for chauffeur, taxi or private hire operators, large or small, that make use of innovative or creative marketing and advertising across a range of media, and can show how this has improved their businesses.

Our Gold QSi Award went to a very special and significant initiative. The driver shortage is one of the biggest issues facing our industry right now – yet most companies are missing an obvious solution. Half the population is out there and available for work – but how many companies have female drivers? AAA Taxis has addressed this issue through its Females in the Fleet initiative, through which it is creating an opportunity for every company in the country to attract female drivers and provide them with a safe, well-trained career.

Our Silver winner has started introducing its own highly recognisable brand to its fleet. But Take Me Group’s real strength has been how it has marketed itself to the industry, and used that relentless approach to bring more and more companies under its umbrella. The project is ongoing, but the impact is remarkable.

The Bronze award goes to a major player in the industry, but one that is now starting to make its mark as a national player. Veezu has started rebranding its operations under one national name – and telling its local customers with a well-executed “smarter rides” marketing campaign.

Roll of Honour

2021 Gold CamCab, Cambridge

Silver Take Me Group, Leicester

Bronze DG Cars, Nottingham

2019 Gold Station Taxis, Sunderland

Silver 001 Taxis, Oxford

Bronze Street Cars, Manchester

2018 Gold Street Cars, Manchester

Silver Radio Taxis, Southampton

Bronze Royal Cars, Oxford

2017 Gold GLH, London

Silver Addison Lee, London

Bronze Go Green Taxis, Didcot

2016 Gold Go Green Taxis, Didcot

Silver Addison Lee, London

Bronze Airport Lynx, Cambridgeshire

2015 Gold

Spotty Cars, London

Silver Addison Lee, London

Bronze Airport Lynx, Cambridge

2014 Gold Tristar Worldwide, London

Silver White 7, Shrewsbury

Bronze Capstar Chauffeurs, London

2013 Gold White 7, Shrewsbury

Silver Reliance Worldwide, London

Bronze Tristar Worldwide, London

The

Winners

Gold AAA Taxis, Hatfield

Silver Take Me Group, Leicester

Bronze Veezu, Newport

Gold

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Community Award

The QSi Community Award aims to reward those operators that make an extraordinary effort to provide an exceptional service for local businesses and organisations.

Our Gold winner is a company that is entirely focused on the towns it serves. The local area around Camberley doesn’t just provide its customers – it’s home to its drivers too. Your Local Car aims to be an integral part of its community, providing services and employment, and creating what it calls a virtuous circle.

Our Silver winner is a major player in its home city of Manchester – but it hasn’t lost the local touch. In addition to its regular and growing work, Street Cars has focused on providing a service to the local ambulance service, transporting more than 1,200 seriously ill patients and their carers a week, with a high standard of punctuality and service.

Our judges were split over our Bronze winner – so we decided to reward two companies. Our first Bronze goes to Derby’s Albatross Cars, which made strong use of social media to promote its services by highlighting its best asset – the local people who drive its cars. It put their faces and stories on its well-followed Facebook page, and the result brought lots of likes and business.

Our second Bronze goes to another East Midlands operator. You can’t get more local than a village taxi service with just one car – and you’ll struggle to find a more popular, distinctive or hardworking one than Flat Cap Cabs. Sadly being a one-man band has its drawbacks, and owner Freddie Fudge couldn’t let his customers down, and so was not able to attend.

Roll of Honour

2021 Gold

Cabs Smart, Ipswich

Silver Radio Taxis, Southampton

Bronze Castle Cars, Tonbridge

2019 Gold Royal Cars, Oxford

Silver Veezu, Newport

Bronze GLH, London

Bronze Street Cars, Manchester

2018 Gold GLH, London

Silver Q Despatch, London

Bronze Royal Cars, Oxford

2017 Gold Street Cars, Manchester

Silver GLH, London

Bronze Solway Private Hire, Silloth

2016 Gold

Solway Private Hire, Silloth

Silver Castle Cars, Tonbridge

Bronze GLH, London

2015 Gold

Solway Private Hire, Silloth

Silver GLH, London

Bronze Argyle Taxis, Birkenhead

2014 Gold Solway Private Hire, Silloth

Silver GLH, London

Bronze Posh Limousines, Stoke-on-Trent

2013 Gold

Fylde Executive, Blackpool

Silver Pryors, Didcot

Bronze GLH, London

The Winners

Gold Your Local Car, Camberley

Silver Street Cars, Manchester

Bronze Albatross Cars, Derby

Bronze Flat Cap Cabs, Brixworth

Gold

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New-Start Operator

The New-Start Operator Award aims to reward private hire, taxi and chauffeur businesses that have only recently become established in the market. It’s open to companies that have either started operating or undergone a major change of management or direction since the start of 2018.

Our Gold winner is a company that only started operations this time last year, but has impressed with its innovative approach to building its business. L&L Travel has focused on minibus transfers, airport work, and taking coach travellers from home to coach station, as well as providing a lower-priced minibus service for schools and local community groups.

The Silver New-Start QSi award goes to a company that started in September 2020, at the height of the pandemic, but Bristol’s StarPrime Chauffeurs has grown at a rapid pace to build a fleet of 10 cars, and become one of the go-to chauffeurs in its local area.

Our bronze winner, NI Chauffeurs, has risen quickly from a standing start in 2018 to become the leading executive chauffeur operator in its region. Last year it had just three cars – now it boasts a fleet of 12, as well as a host of awards from local businesses. Sadly owner Mick Hedley was working and couldn’t attend.

The Winners

Gold L&L Travel, Newton-le-Willows

Silver StarPrime Chauffeurs, Bristol

Bronze NI Chauffeurs, Belfast

Silver

Roll of Honour

2021 Gold Chabé, London

Silver Luxstar, Newport

Bronze NI Chauffeurs, Belfast

2019 Gold Driven By Liberty, Manchester

Silver OnCue Transport, London

Bronze Tadley Cars, Tadley

2018 Gold Excel Executive, London

Silver Wayland Executive Cars, Watton

Bronze AZ Luxe, London

2017 Gold Orion Luxury, London

Silver London Luxury Chauffeuring, London

Bronze Myhills Mini Coaches, Cambridge

2016 Gold Alpha Executive, Bury St Edmunds

Silver Near and Far, Fakenham

Bronze EA Chauffeurs, Byfleet

2015 Gold

eConnect Cars, London

Silver Portfolio Executive, Woking

Bronze Alpha Executive, Bury St Edmunds

2014 Gold Capstar Chauffeurs, London

Silver Park Executive, Sunderland

Bronze London SilverBlack, London

Gold

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Chauffeur [1-10 vehicles]

This is always a closely-fought category in the QSi Awards. The judges find this is one of the hardest categories to call. It always attracts a strong entry of companies with a focus on personal service, and the successful entrants are those with a vital “x factor”.

The Gold winner is certainly special. Parkers Executive is the dominant chauffeur operator in its home city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, offering a genuine first-class service with an emphasis on sustainability, driver training and security. No box goes unticked, and if a top-level job is needed in Newcastle… it goes to Parkers Executive, previously a Gold QSi winner in the first edition of the awards back in 2013.

Our Silver QSi winner is Newark’s Aura Journeys, a company that impressed with its meticulous approach. Aura integrates technology, analysis and training to ensure its customers receive a service of the highest quality. As is so often the case in this category, our judges found it hard to get the shortlist down to a final three. So we’ve got a final four, with two Bronze winners.

The first goes to Scotland’s MET Chauffeurs, a company that has kept its focus in challenging times and has remarkably helped itself to grow by mentoring another start-up and helping it grow by offering work that it could otherwise have not fulfilled otherwise.

While MET travelled a long way to be at the event, our second Bronze QSi winner had an easier journey. Newport-based Luxstar is another 2020 start-up that has prospered through hard work and dedicated service – it now handles 400 jobs a week in South Wales.

Roll of Honour

2021 Gold Driven By Liberty, Manchester

Silver Parkers Executive

Bronze JRA Chauffeur Drive, Camberley

2019 Gold Belgraves of London, Sutton

Silver Smart City Prestige, London

Bronze Drive Arrive, Huntingdon

Bronze MET Chauffeur Services, Erskine

2018 Gold Belgraves of London, Sutton

Silver MET Chauffeur Services, Erskine

Bronze Orion Luxury Services, London

Bronze AZ Luxe, London

2017 Gold Orion Luxury, London

Silver Cole Executive Hire, Malmesbury

Bronze Chauffeur Travel, Bath

2016 Gold Alpha Executive, Bury St Edmunds

Silver MLC Chauffeurs, Chorley

Bronze Driving Force, Tunbridge Wells

Bronze Home James, Birmingham

2015 Gold Chirton Grange, Rochester

Silver Near and Far, Fakenham

Bronze Park Executive, Sunderland

The Winners

Gold

Parkers Executive, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Silver Aura Journeys, Newark Bronze Luxstar, Newport Bronze MET Chauffeur Services, Erskine

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Chauffeur [11+ vehicles]

This is another tough category, where Quality and Service are a given –so it’s often down to Innovation to decide the medals. Which operator will be the large Chauffeur fleet of the year?

Our Gold winner is last year’s New-Start champion, Chabé. Starting operations in 2020 at the height of the pandemic might have seemed risky, but the absolute focus on quality and the immense professionalism on show has meant our winner has accelerated out of the crisis and is on course for a fleet of 30 cars in 2023. The I in QSi stands for innovation, and that’s what makes our Silver QSi winner stand out from the crowd. Blacklane is a global giant, and its innovations include an electric chauffeur fleet, chauffeur hailing via an app, and especially, fixed-rate inter-city journeys that compete with train travel on price and convenience.

Once again, our judges couldn’t get down to three, so we have two Bronze winners. The first goes to a familiar firm whose business was devastated during the Covid pandemic. But iChauffeur has taken a creative approach to rebuilding its business, with new ways to book, electric cars and a first-rate driver recruitment and mentoring policy.

Our second Bronze winner is another company that has been here before! Like most operators, the pandemic and driver shortage have been challenges – but Belgraves of London has overcome them through a focus on quality and service, as well as a strong commitment to sustainability.

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Roll of Honour

2021 Gold Belgraves of London, Sutton

Silver iChauffeur, London

Bronze AZ Luxe, London

2019 Gold Fylde Executive Cars, Blackpool

Silver iChauffeur, London

Bronze Embassy Cars, London

2018 Gold iChauffeur, London

Silver Embassy Cars, London

Bronze Herts Executive, Welwyn Garden City

2017 Gold iChauffeur, London

Silver Driven UK, Horley

Bronze Herts Executive, Welwyn Garden City

2016 Gold Airport Lynx, Cambridge

Silver Auto Executive Corporate Travel, Redcar

Bronze Driven UK, Horley

2015 Gold Club Class Chauffeurs, Hailsham

Silver Capstar Chauffeurs, London

Bronze Airport Lynx, Cambridge

Bronze Home James, Birmingham

2014 Gold Capstar Chauffeurs, London

Silver Airport Lynx, Cambridge

Bronze England Limousines, London

2013 Gold Club Class Chauffeurs, Hailsham

Silver Fylde Executive, Blackpool

Bronze England Limousines, London

Gold

The Winners

Gold Chabé, London

Silver Blacklane, Berlin

Bronze Belgraves of London, Sutton

Bronze iChauffeur, London

Private Hire

This caTegory is The mosT hardfought of all the awards – Private Hire Operator of the Year. This category always attracts seriously high-quality entries, and this year’s is no exception.

Choosing our Gold winner was a very tough call. Our judges weighed the merits of all seven shortlisted companies. But in the end, it was a focus on its biggest asset that turned out to be the clincher. Radio Taxis of Southampton turned its attention to its drivers, setting up numerous initiatives to help them get back to work and earn more money.

Silver goes to another of the most acquisitive companies of the past year. A series of takeovers have turned this company from a local to a regional powerhouse, and its biggest takeover has given it the contract to run the car service at three large regional airports. It has achieved this with no drop in quality. Gold last year, but silver in 2022 for DG Cars.

Our Bronze winner is Manchester’s Street Cars. This is a company that has won Gold here before – and has had a spectacular year, making a number of key acquisitions in its home city that have reinforced its position as the number one operator there. And it has diversified into a new region by picking up the contract to run the cabs at Stansted Airport.

Roll of Honour

2021 Gold DG Cars, Nottingham

Silver Radio Taxis, Southampton

Bronze Street Cars, Manchester

2019 Gold Radio Taxis, Southampton

Silver Street Cars, Manchester

Bronze Veezu, Newport

2018 Gold Street Cars, Manchester

Silver Royal Cars,Oxford

Bronze Green Tomato Cars, London

2017 Gold

Parker Car Service, London

Silver Royal Cars,Oxford

Bronze Carrot Cars, London

2016 Gold Addison Lee, London

Silver Parker Car Service, London

Bronze GLH, London

2015 Gold

Phoenix Taxis, Blyth

Silver Parker Car Service, London

Bronze Addison Lee, London

2014 Gold

Phoenix Taxis, Blyth

Silver GLH, London

Bronze Greentomato Cars, London

2013 Gold GLH, London

Silver

The Keen Group, London

Bronze Climatecars, London

The Winners

Gold Radio Taxis, Southampton

Silver DG Cars, Nottingham

Bronze Street Cars, Manchester

Gold

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The Winners

Silver

Bronze Tony

Bronze

Professional Driver of the Year 2022

Finally, the Professional Driver of the year. It’s our Flagship Award, and goes to the individual private hire driver or chauffeur who provides the absolute highest standard of service, in terms of driving skills, customer service, personality, and ability to represent their company.

As always we have an impressive shortlist, and this year 10 drivers are in the running. And every one of them deserves to be there. Their stories demonstrate the depth of talent and quality that exists in the industry, and choosing three winners was difficult – so difficult that once again, we’ve gone to four.

Our Gold QSi Professional Driver of the Year, 2022 was runner-up in 2021. Kenneth Bond operates at a high level, chauffeuring dignitaries in Birmingham, including the Mayor. There is hardly a qualification available that he doesn’t have, and the judges praised the way he continues to strive to be the best.

Our Silver winner is renowned for his friendly approach, but Albatross Cars’ Nayyer Iqbal Bhatti grew suspicious when one elderly customer asked to be taken to the bank as there had been, she said, fraudulent activity on her account. Our driver listened to the lady’s conversation, and deduced, quite correctly, that she was being scammed. His quick actions saved the day.

The first of two Bronze QSi awards goes to a driver described by his employer as a real team player. With meticulous standards of driving and customer care, his level of service persuaded a major London luxury hotel to give all its business to his company. That company is AZ Luxe, and the driver is Tony Hernandez.

Our second Bronze winner is almost certainly the most experienced driver on the shortlist. Derek Cole now runs his own business, Cole Executive Hire, but he started driving in the Army more than 50 years ago – and with experience of transporting high explosives, taking care of volatile customers comes easy.

Gold Kenneth Bond, City of Birmingham

Nayyer Iqbal Bhatti, Albatross Cars, Derby

Hernandez, AZ Luxe, London

Derek Cole, Cole Executive, Malmesbury

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Kenneth Bond (right) receives his award from BMW’s Lee Connolly

Bronze Silver

Roll of Honour

2021

Gold Joe Tranter, Belgraves of London, Sutton

Silver Kenneth Bond, City of Birmingham

Bronze Peter Mangion, Oracle Chauffeurs, Westcott, Surrey

2019

Gold Scott Phillpot, Belgraves of London

Silver Steve Sommerfeld, Marshalls of Cambridge

Bronze Peter Conisbee, Drive Arrive

2018

Gold Paul Garratt, Excel Executive

Silver Terry McCann, Herts Executive

Bronze Stuart Johnson, Wayland

2017

Gold Hilary Hutchinson, Lakeland Chauffeurs

Silver Simon Peacock, Capstar Chauffeurs

Bronze Marc Brodie, GLH

Bronze Bogdan Tepes, Herts Executive

2016

Gold Andrew Matthews, Alpha Executive Cars

Silver Paul Bhamra, Tristar Worldwide

Bronze Michael Browne, Driven Worldwide

2015

Gold Danny Richards, Capstar Chauffeurs

Silver Hilary Hutchinson, Lakeland Chauffeurs

Bronze Paul Stanley,Tristar Worldwide

2014

Gold Eric Bonful, Greentomato Cars

Silver Kevin Willis, Chirton Grange

Bronze Paul Alleman,Tristar Worldwide

Bronze Clive Pearce, England Limousines

2013

Gold Robert Mroczek, England Limousines

Silver Andrew Fowler, Location Chauffeurs

Bronze Maurice Holman, Tristar Worldwide

Nayyer

Iqbal Bhatti

Tony Hernandez

Bronze

Derek Cole

An electric atmosphere

Great cars, great weather and a great turnout marked the return of the Professional Driver Car of the Year judging event in August.

We returned to Epsom racecourse, following positive feedback from 2021, and we’d like to thank the Epsom staff for being so welcoming once again. And, of course, we’d like to thank everyone who turned up to judge,

especially those who travelled long distances, from as far as South Wales and Lancashire.

We had a terrific selection of cars, including many of the latest plugin hybrid and electric models, giving judges a chance to sample the cars that will form their future fleets.

Over the next few pages you can find out which cars from our extensive shortlist took our seven category wins,

and finally we’ll reveal our Car of the Year.

But first, let’s head back to those warm summer afternoons and take a look at a gallery of images from the August judging days.

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CAR OF THE YEAR

Private Hire Car of the Year – Hybrid

What’s the best car for private hire use? With transport for London insisting on electric vehicles and the rest of the country taking a more pragmatic approach, we decided to split the category into two for 2022.

Diesels are a thing of the past now – for the first time, we had no diesel cars in any category, so we’ve drawn up two shortlists – one for zero-emissions electric cars (including hydrogen fuel cell vehicles) and one for hybrids, both regular and plug-in.

In the hybrid section, there was a clear winner – a car that is renowned for its exceptional interior space, which now comes as a plug-in hybrid without compromising its outstanding performance. The Skoda Superb has been voted Private Hire Car of the Year five times in the past, and the PHEV iV version made it six. It says much for Skoda’s dominance in this sector that the runner-up was the Superb’s stablemate, the Skoda Octavia iV.

In the electric category we saw a much closer contest, with no less than 13 entries – an indication that finally, there is real choice for operators and drivers looking for an electric car. Vehicle supply is still an issue, but it is likely to ease in 2023, manufacturers assure us.

There was so much interest in these cars – and the voting was impressive, with vehicles from Volkswagen, Volvo, Hyundai and Kia all achieving high scores. But it was no surprise to see Skoda again at the top of the tree, transferring its expertise in making attractive and practical cars into the EV world with the Skoda Enyaq iV. Close behind, and on a very similar score, were the Hyundai Ioniq6 and the Kia EV6.

If we had combined the scores for both the hybrids and EVs, the Enyaq would have come out on top, ahead of the Superb and the Ioniq5.

The seven-seater market has changed over the years, and vanbased people-movers are now the standard. In 2022 we sadly saw the end of the traditional car-based MPV, with the Ford Galaxy and Citroen Grand C4 Space Tourer heading for the history books, hot on the heels of the VW Sharan, killed off in 2021.

This was a very close contest, again with hybrids

and EVs making the final cut. The top three were separated by just three points. But the sort of jobs that these workhorses need to do means range is crucial. So our winner is a hybrid vehicle.

The Volkswagen Multivan was launched toward the end of 2021, and has impressed with its carlike qualities. In a tight contest, it edged out the Mercedes EQV, last year’s winner, for the title, with the Vauxhall Vivaro-e in third.

hauffeur Cars are inCreasingly becoming SUV-shaped, partly because customers like them, and partly because SUVs make great electric and hybrid cars as there’s plenty of room under the floor to stash the battery pack.

Our shortlist includes both full electric and PHEV models – but once again, it was a battery-

electric car that triumphed. The BMW iX has made a big impact in its first year of sale, offering an outstanding combination of space, quality and performance. It was interesting to note that BMW entered two different versions of the car, and our testers preferred the lower-spec iX40 to the iX50, which came third. In second place was the Mercedes-Benz EQC.

For many operators, an estate gives more versatility than a saloon – especially if you’ve got to carry passengers with luggage. The Estate Car of the Year category was a closely fought contest, where plug-in hybrids are still the main option. Indeed, at present the only all-electric estate is the MG5.

In recent years this has been a straight fight between the 2021 winner, the Volvo V90 T6, and the 2021 champ, the BMW 530e Touring. This year it was the BMW that triumphed ahead of the Volvo with the Skoda Superb Estate in third. The 530e Touring may be coming close to the end of its time in the BMW range, but it still looks good and offers plenty of loadspace, while the estate body makes the back seat more habitable than on the saloon 5-series.

BMW’s corporate rental manager Wendy Venus

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The executive car is the lifeblood of the chauffeur sector – and this is a very competitive sector. But the need to go electric is vital – and we’re only just seeing some really practical electric options in this sector.

Indeed, two of the four EVs on the shortlist were very new indeed – we managed to get hold of the Genesis G80 Electrified and the Mercedes-Benz

EQE in advance of their UK launches.

And this year’s Executive Car of the Year category turned into a two-way battle between these two vehicles. In the end, a combination of style, practicality and road presence meant the winner was the Genesis G80 Electrified, in a very close contest against the EQE, In third was the BMW i4, which scored heavily on driveability but less well on rear seat comfort.

Chauffeur

Electric cars are coming at the top end of the market, and our shortlist contained a fully electric large saloon for the first time. Could the Mercedes-Benz EQS beat the established hybrids? It scored well – but at the end of the day, chauffeurs know what they like. And the EQS doesn’t have the same rear seat luxury as the traditional limousines, with only a standard wheelbase and a relatively low roof line. Judges didn’t like the hatchback tailgate either, though they did enjoy the driveability.

In the end the EQS came third, behind its own stablemate, the MercedesBenz S580eL plug-in hybrid, which arrived last year 12 months after the first diesel and petrol S-Classes. In second was the Audi A8L, another PHEV.

Our overall Professional Driver Car of the Year is chosen from the seven category winners. A solid selection indeed, and with a number of new models winning their classes, it proved to be a difficult choice for the overall winner, with several cars making a strong case.

So which car is our champion for 2022. It’s a new model, and it could turn out to be a game-changer in many ways. It’s an elegant and practical electric vehicle that pushes its brand into the forefront of the chauffeuring market.

Scoring heavily on build quality and interior luxury, it presents a genuine alternative to the established brands in the executive sector. Our Professional Driver Car of the Year for 2022 is the Genesis G80 Electrified.

Genesis is a new brand in the UK, but it’s basically Hyundai group’s attempt to create a premium brand above Kia and Hyundai. It launched in the UK in 2021, and has added EVs in 2022, with a plan to go foully electric by the end of the decade.

It’s refreshing to see a new entrant in the luxury market. Jaguar has effectively withdrawn from the chauffeur market, while Lexus has never made the impact it threatened to make. Others, such as Chrysler and Infiniti, have been and gone.

But the G80 Electrified bodes well for Genesis, and the company clearly has the resources to push Hard into BMW and Mercedes territory.

Genesis Motor UK’s national corporate sales manager Richard Shortridge

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