Veezu invests £1.75m in new Toyota hybrid vehicles

Private hire and taxi giant Veezu has made a £1.75 million investment in a fleet of new hybrid cars as part of a broader strategy to reduce its carbon footprint.

The group, which operates five regional hubs covering 22 towns and cities across England and Wales, has added 60 Toyota Corolla Touring ‘self-charging’ hybrid electric vehicles to its fleet. A further 30 low-emission cars are expected to be added to the fleet later this year.

The first batch of cars were scheduled to hit the road on June 16 – “Clean Air Day”, the UK’s most extensive air pollution campaign. The low emission vehicles will be deployed evenly across Veezu’s regional brands: Amber Cars in Leeds, A2B Radio Cars in Birmingham, Go Carz in the north Midlands, Dragon Taxis in south Wales and V Cars in south-west England.

There are currently two Clean Air Zones within these operating areas: Bath and Birmingham, with Bristol also added to the list later this year. Introduced to improve air quality in these areas, Veezu’s new fleet of hybrid cars will all meet the minimum emission standards set. As the new vehicles arrive, older cars in Veezu’s fleet will be taken out of service.

Gavin Morris (pictured), lead director of Veezu’s Drive division, said: “This is an essential investment for us as a company but one we feel very passionately about. Throughout the areas we are deploying the new fleet to, there are a number of Clean Air Zones, and we are proud to be doing our bit to help these locations meet their air quality targets.”

He added: “We are always looking at improving our carbon footprint as part of our wider environmental social governance strategy. This significant £1.75m investment will contribute towards that. Low-emission vehicles play an important part in the private hire industry, and we’re proud to be leading the way.”

Veezu claims to be the UK’s fastest growing taxi and private hire technology platform with more than 7,000 active driver-partners. Veezu was founded in 2013. The company has also made sustainability part of their business plan, investing more than £3.25 million in low-emission cars within the last three years.