Street Cars moves south by taking official Stansted Airport contract

Street Cars has been appointed as the official private hire taxi partner of London Stansted Airport, marking the first move into the south of England for the Manchester-based company.

Street Cars managing director Aqeel Arshad (pictured) said operations at the airport will commence on April 1, replacing 24×7 Cars as the airport’s official provider of cab services.

“This may come as a shock to some people, but to anyone who has been paying attention, it’ll be obvious that this was the next stop for us,” Arshad said. “We have been the official private hire partner of Manchester Airport for the last four years and we have loved every minute of it.”

Stansted Airport, the third-busiest in the UK, is operated by Manchester Airport Group, and Street Cars has won the contract through its links with the airport operator.

“Stansted will be complemented with our first-class service and innovative business ideas, and we are excited to deepen our collaboration with the Manchester Airport Group, who operate Stansted Airport.” Arshad added.

The move is the latest shake-up in the UK’s airport cab services, with Leeds-based Arrow Cars exiting the market to concentrate on its fast-growing food retail business, Batch’d.

DG Cars of Nottingham has taken over Arrow’s contracts at three UK airports: East Midlands, Leeds-Bradford and Bristol, while the former Arrow operations at Newcastle Airport have been sold to Dean Taxis of Newcastle.

Arshad added: “We are also focusing more than ever on our operations in Manchester and at Manchester Airport. We will never forget our grass roots in Manchester and will always represent the city that we have come from.”

“I’m personally very proud of our entire team and can honestly say that we are going to do our best to honour the reputation we have built so far, regardless of wherever we may be,” Arshad said.