Take Me brings together Plymouth rivals Taxifirst and Tower Cabs

TAKE US: [top row, from left] Tony Harris , David Hunter and John Gardener of Take Me Group. [bottom row, from left] David Trace of Taxifirst and Peter Bresland of Tower Cabs.

Take Me Group has made a second acquisition in Plymouth, adding local operator Taxifirst and its owner David Trace to the group. Taxifirst joins former rival Tower Cabs in Plymouth, which was added to the growing Take Me portfolio in July 2021.

David Trace has been running Taxifirst for more than 30 years and has built his fleet of vehicles up to more than 160. He has overseen a dramatic change in automation and systems within the business since starting, and the company’s dispatch is now more than 80% automated using the Autocab system.

David Trace said: “It has been an emotional journey here in Plymouth but let me reassure all my team and customers that it is very much business as usual for us all here at Taxifirst. We are all looking forward to the benefits of being part of a larger group and using their resources to offer a better service to our customers and to ensure our drivers have the latest technology and systems to help them.”

Take Me is a national group of taxi companies, with sites in Brighton, Birmingham, Leicester, Liverpool, Crewe, London, Farnborough and Cambridgeshire. Take Me Managing Director David Hunter said: “The company has more acquisitions in the pipeline to be announced in the near future, following the additions already this year to the group of ADT Taxis, Steve’s Taxis, VGT Taxis, Westside Taxis, Intercity Private Hire, Tower Cabs and TC Cars.

He added “It is exciting times at Take Me as we keep expanding and adding brilliant local businesses to our network fleet. Together we can bring our skills and infrastructure from being a national brand but build on the local expertise of these amazing well established taxi operators.”

Trace said “The group offers driver incentives, including cheaper insurance, car replacement, finance. This collaboration will enable us to reach new heights and take Taxifirst to a new level while re-establishing our position as one of the finest in Plymouth. There will be lots of exciting developments taking place in the next few months and we want you all to be part of the journey.”

One of the first initiatives that Take Me will be helping Taxifirst with is to develop a taxi academy in Plymouth, which will train the next generation of taxi drivers.

The taxi academy is open to anybody aged 21+ with a driver’s license and the team will help people of all ages retrain and get them Taxi Driver’s licences and a vehicle, as well as offering them plenty of work from the Taxifirst and Towercabs workload.