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Birmingham’s TC Cars joins growing Take Me portfolio in £2 million takeover Mark Bursa
DG Cars’ delivery business allows the Nottingham taxi firm to grow during the Covid-19 lockdown DG Delivery, Nottingham private hire giant DG Cars’ takeaway food delivery business, has now signed up more than 160 restaurants across Nottingham and Derby – and helped the company buck the trend of driver losses by recruiting 175 new drivers during the pandemic. The business, launched during the first lockdown in April 2020, has helped local restaurants stay afloat during the pandemic and provided the firm’s drivers with a new source of jobs. The initiative has been such a success that around 3,000 delivery jobs are now being passed through to drivers each week. Restaurant customers simply order online or over the phone. The delivery element is then entered into Delivery Point, a technology platform developed by Autocab, which allocates the work to local DG Cars drivers. Instead of losing drivers during lockdown, the new service has enabled DG Cars to take on an additional 175 drivers. The taxi firm is now planning to extend the service to the retail sector, to help them get goods out to customers. Omair Javaid, Director at DG Cars, said: “In a difficult economic climate, this has been a fantastic way for us to support local businesses and connect the community. “It has also opened up doors for our business – it’s enabled us to provide a new opportunity to our drivers, who have been struggling due to the lack of traditional passenger and corporate work.” He added: “We plan to continue rolling out the service in the months to come. Many vulnerable people are currently relying on deliveries, so the more businesses we can work with, the better for them in terms of the options they have available.” Ryan Schofield, head of internal business development at Chao Chao, a franchise takeaway with sites in Arnold and West Bridgford, which has been using DG’s delivery service, said: “Working with DG has solved many problems for us – we were struggling to find enough drivers to fulfil our orders during busy periods. With access to a huge network of drivers, we now know orders will be collected quickly and will arrive with our customers as fresh as when it left our premises.” —Mark Bursa
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Ambitious taxi operator Take Me has added another company to its growing portfolio, with the acquisition of Birmingham-based TC Cars. And Take Me managing director Davis Hunter said the company had at least three more purchases in the pipeline to be announced in the near future. This deal, valued in excess of £2 million, differs from earlier acquisitions in that it is not being funded by venture capitalist MBH Corporation, but by Hunter and business investors – though future Take Me acquisitions are likely to be MBH-backed. “TC Cars is a well-run firm and one of the best in the West Midlands,” said Hunter. The company was voted the best taxi company in Birmingham 2019 by Corporate Wire. Before Covid, it had a fleet of 400 cars, but that has dropped to around 280. “Despite the pandemic, it has very loyal customers and drivers and
is still busy, doing 15-20,000 jobs a week,” he added. The company has been carrying out essential work, including supermarket runs, food deliveries, transporting key workers and, recently, taking people for Covid vaccinations. Hunter said the plan was to add Take Me branding, so in time the company will become “Take Me powered by TC Cars”. Initially the company has switched dispatch systems from Autocab to iCabbi in order to maintain commonality with the Take Me group. In September 2018 TC Cars purchased Parkers Cars in Sutton Coldfield, adding to its reach in the affluent Birmingham suburb. This resulted in a 45% increase in work in 2019 compared to the previous year. TC Cars was established in 1986 by current managing director Martin Smith, who is leaving the business but staying in the taxi trade, as he also owns a taxi fleet called All the 2s in Weston-super-Mare, which has a 70car fleet in the seaside town.
Uber launches same-day delivery with pilot schemes in three UK cities Mark Bursa Uber has launched a new sameday delivery service called Uber Connect in the UK. Costing the same as a regular UberX journey, the new product will initially be available in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds as a pilot programme. Uber Connect allows users to deliver parcels and packages quickly by tapping into the existing Uber network. Users can order in-app, with the same notifications and ability to track the parcel in real-time. Jamie Heywood, regional general manager for Northern and Eastern Europe, Uber, said: “Daily life remains very different this
year and we want to help people keep in touch while staying safe at home as lockdown continues. Uber Connect means you can send that last minute gift that you accidentally forgot, share a book you loved with one of your friends, or documents for a work colleague.” This is an additional way Uber’s platform can provide support during this difficult time and help ensure people can get the items they need, when they need them. It also provides driver-partners on the Uber platform a new earnings opportunity. The new product is set to prove popular this weekend as
couples living in different houses send each other Valentine’s Day gifts, while it’s also expected the product will be used regularly by those working from home to courier documents and parcels. To send a package, users need to select Connect in the Uber app and enter the pick up and delivery details. Sealed packages should be loaded into the boot of the vehicle when the driver arrives, and users can then follow the journey in app to see it arrive safely with the recipient as a contact-free delivery. Packages can be valued up to £100, must weigh under 13kg and must not contain any prohibited items.
FEBRUARY 2021
