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Bradford’s Euro Cars rebrands as Zip to reflect ‘speed and efficiency’ Mark Bursa Bradford private hire operator Euro Cars has rebranded its operations as Zip, more than 50 years after starting operations in the Yorkshire city back in 1970. Zip said the name was chosen to reflect the speed and efficiency brought about by changes to how passengers use its service over the years. Saltaire-based digital marketing agency Xpand has created a new brand and advertising concept, though the Euro Cars colours of yellow and black have been retained. Euro Cars operates around
150 cars, having grown through acquisition since 1970.It has taken over 10 other private hire companies including Tong Private Hire and Jubilee Private Hire.
South Shields taxi firm offers no-cost driver sign-up to tackle shortage A South Shields taxi firm has launched a campaign to encourage new and existing drivers into the trade. Nearby Richmond Taxis, South Tyneside’s largest private hire operator, hopes the ‘Free Ride’ campaign will help it solve the driver shortage, which has resulted in longer waiting times for customers. The company is offering to pay for a medical, badge (on successful application with the council), vehicle test and on-site training to cut costs for drivers joining the company and to fast-track them to the necessary standard. The company said costs such as paying for
Zip operations manager Sufyaan Pathan said: “To keep up with the change in the industry, we felt a rebrand was necessary, allowing us to continue to cater and provide for our
local community while further improving our levels of service.” Jag Panesar, founder of Xpand, said: “During initial conversations, we quickly realised that Euro Cars was fast becoming a leader in the space, but the existing brand didn’t reflect their mission and operations. “We knew that the heritage of the firm was extremely important, and so the new zip brand was created with the original black, yellow and white colours at its core but more in line with the other digitally savvy private hire firms in the UK.”
license applications, enhanced DBS checks, and other credentials can often deter people from becoming a taxi driver if they don’t have the money to start out. Gemma Errington (pictured), fleet driver manager at Nearby Richmond Taxis, said: “With the current shortage of drivers across the UK at the moment it’s great to be able to offer something back to people wanting to get in to the taxi and private hire trade.” By assisting them with zero start-up costs we’re hoping to see more drivers joining us, allowing us to cut down on customer wait times and providing a first-class, local service.” The company recently incorporated ‘Nearby’ into its brand name after becoming part of the Nearby group, including Nearby LA Taxis, Nearby Westoe Taxis and Nearby Eastcoast Taxis. This means when a customer books a taxi with a Nearby brand, if one of the other Nearby fleet taxis is in the area it can take the fare.
Bid to defer increases in Rossendale taxi licence fees fails A bid to defer ‘huge’ increases in taxi licence fees to protect Lancashire cab businesses hit by the pandemic has failed. Rossendale council’s licensing committee approved charge increases at Tuesday’s meeting, which also appeared to open the
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door to possible fare increases for customers. The council’s annual budget includes hikes to drivers’ licence charges from £185 to £223 for three years, annual vehicle licences from £140 to £178, and five-year private hire operator’s
licences from £300 to £413. The fees had been cut in 2015 due to a huge influx of ‘out of town’ licence applications. The council had planned to increase them in 2020, but kept them low because of the pandemic. Cllr Tony Haworth proposed that
the charges should be deferred by a year as a reflection of the problems with Covid, including for taxi drivers. But this was defeated, with the meeting told it would create cost issues for the council.
—Mark Bursa
MARCH 2022
