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DG Cars acquires two more airport operations as Arrow exits taxi business to focus on food Mark Bursa Nottingham’s DG Cars has acquired two more of Arrow Cars’ airport taxi operations, adding Leeds-Bradford and Bristol Airports to the East Midlands service it acquired in late 2021. The move sees David Richmond, chairman of Leeds-based Arrow Cars, exit the taxi business after 18 years. He plans to focus on his fast-expanding food retail business, formerly known as Arrow Fresh but now rebranded Batch’d. The expansion takes DG Cars’ total UK fleet to around 1,400 cars, and this is likely to increase. “We have also started a driver academy to recruit drivers into the industry who don’t have a licence,” said a DG Cars spokesman. DG was a double Gold Award winner at the 2021 Professional Driver QSi Awards, and successfully diversified into delivery work during the pandemic. DG Cars is working with another large regional fleet, Middlesbroughbased Boro Cars, to take on the Arrow
Cars Bristol and Leeds airport services. In a statement, DG said: “These acquisitions demonstrate that DG Cars is fast becoming a major provider of transport services within the UK. We would like to welcome Arrow Cars customers new and old and reassure them that they are in good hands.” “DG Cars is actively expanding within the UK, and taxi companies that want to be part of our growth are welcome to get in touch via socialfeedback@dgcars.co.uk” The Arrow brand has been acquired along with the business and is being
retained at the airports. “We have exciting plans for the future of our business, and we are happy that our customers and the communities that we serve will be part of them,” DG Cars said. Last month Arrow sold its other remaining airport service, Newcastle Airport, to local operator Dean Taxis. It won the Newcastle contract in a competitive tender in 2019. Arrow closed its Birmingham airport operation last year after just two years, citing driver shortages and a collapse in business during the pandemic. And
in 2018, it lost its Manchester Airport contract to Street Cars in a competitive tender. Chairman David Richmond said he was happy to leave the taxi business after two very tough years. “Our business was one of the worst hit by the pandemic, and it had the heart ripped out of it. I didn’t have the energy or passion to rebuild it – and I’ve found a new love with Batch’d, which is expanding all over the country.” In 2020, Arrow launched this business as Arrow Fresh, initially as a home delivery business sourcing food products from Yorkshire suppliers. Now renamed Batch’d, it operates kiosks selling desserts and cakes in 12 major UK shopping centres, with plans to increase this to 40 by the end of 2022. “The business is absolutely flying,” Richmond said. Richmond said DG Cars was the right new owner for Arrow. “They’ll build Arrow back up to being a major player in the airport transfer business. It’s what the business needed.”
Congestion charge returns to pre-pandemic operating times, but £15 charge remains The London Congestion Charge has changed back to pre-pandemic weekday operating hours. London Mayor Sadiq Khan previously changed the times in June 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, extending the hours from 7am until 10pm. The charge was also increased to £15, following a government bailout of TfL. Now the C-charge will revert to its previous operating times, from 7am until 6pm from Monday until Friday. It also applies from 12pm until 6pm on weekends and bank holidays. There is no charge between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day bank holiday. The Mayor said an increase in traffic in the evenings is “to some extent, to be expected, as traffic is no longer disincentivised from
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driving in the congestion charge zone”. He said: “What it was leading to was damage to the night-time economy, leading to jobs being lost, but also leading to our recovery not being as fast as it could have been. “It’s really important for our policies to be pro-environment, pro-cleaning up our air and also pro-businesses. These are businesses, by the way, that pay their taxes that lead to us having some of the brilliant policies that we have, from more cycle lanes to widening the pavements, to investing in public transport.” “If businesses go bust, if fewer people are working in our city, if there is more
unemployment, it’s more difficult for us to provide the public transport system we want, but also it damages our economy.” The congestion charge applies in central London, specifically the area bound by the A501, A4202, A302, A201, A100 and A1210. This includes all of Soho, Westminster, Marylebone, Farringdon, Fitzrovia, Clerkenwell, Waterloo and Mayfair. All cars, including private hire vehicles, have to pay the £15 daily charge, unless they are zero-emissions vehicles (electric or hydrogen fuel cell. Black cabs are exempt, regardless of how dirty their powertrain, however. —Mark Bursa
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