Club Class Chauffeurs, based in East Sussex has announced the successful acquisition of Bridges of Cheltenham further expanding the companies portfolio.

Formerly known as Airport Taxis, Bridges of Cheltenham is a well-established operator and provides the perfect opportunity for Club Class to have an instant reputable and similar sized operation to its own – in the heart of the Midlands.

Club Class Chauffeurs is retaining all the employees and support team of Bridges and will continue to work from the office space just off Hatherley Road in Cheltenham.

Jonathan Dow, MD of Club Class Chauffeurs, said that this was a very strategic and ‘perfect fit’ acquisition for the company.

He said: “While Club Class Chauffeurs already provides a national service from our base in Sussex, having an additional hub in the Midlands within easy reach of Birmingham, Heathrow, Bristol and the South West puts us in an even stronger competitive position for many key client accounts.

“The acquisition of Bridges of Cheltenham effectively doubles our footprint in the UK and gives us a stronger platform for further growth. At the same time we are exploring further opportunities to promote our other services, including our long distant and airport transfer service for private individuals.”

Club Class Chauffeurs has a fleet of 25 new Volvo and executive vehicles and this latest acquisition brings the company’s fleet to 50 vehicles.

Trevor Workman of Bridges said: “We are delighted to have Club Class Chauffeurs as our new owner. Club Class is a company of exceptional reputation and customer service standards and we look forward to working with the expanded team for the benefit of all customers.”

Club Class is an Investor in People accredited company and boasts multiple awards for its exceptional customer service. For more information visit: www.clubclassonline.co.uk

Neil Percival, 49 years-old, owner of A1 Stretch based in St. Albans was rushed to hospital after becoming very ill in Spain during a holiday recently, it was initially believed to be food poisoning, but his condition worsened. It was soon discovered that Neil had an infection following a hospital procedure around a month ago.

Doctors have now put Neil into an induced coma to allow his body to heal before he is transferred to a heart hospital in Palma in the next few days. His condition has been diagnosed as Septic shock which has a survival rate of between 25-50%.

Sources have told TheChauffeur.com that Neil has a pacemaker which will now have to be removed and re-fitted to treat the infection in the hope of helping Neil fight it.

Neil’s family and friends, including co-owner of A1 Stretch, Eddy Ellis have travelled to the hospital to support him through the illness.

Members of the limousine industry are invited to send Neil messages of support through our Facebook page here.

Image: Neil Percival in a photo shoot for The Chauffeur magazine in May 2006. Courtesy of ProMedia.

In the same year as the new S-Class is due to hit the chauffeur market, it must be all hands to deck within the fleet sales departments of Mercedes-Benz, as it’s clear both of these vehicles are going to be incredible success stories.

The E-Class has always been the most popular vehicle for corporate work with the S-Class a very close second. It seems as if Mercedes-Benz has realised that other manufacturers are catching up by stealing sales each and every day – especially with the extremely attractive chauffeur programmes on offer

As soon as you see the new E, it’s clear that it’s a completely different car – a bolder, more aggressive look to the front end pulls it apart from the rest of the Mercedes range. Whilst from the rear, it’s easily recognisable as an E-Class with little changes. Inside are fresh new fittings and higher quality materials – the centre controller for the main functions such as sat nav and radio is within easy reach whilst the steering column gear change as seen in the previous S-Class now takes its place in the E-Class.

Under the bonnet of what is bound to be the most popular model is a 59mpg 2.2 diesel engine producing a tiny 125g/km of Co2. The E220 will start from £32,400 on the road or £40,900 for the E300 AMG Sport model.

SE versions of the new E-Class have more than £4,000 worth of additional equipment for a price increase of £2,280 this model benefits from 17 inch wheels which will massively improve ride for rear passengers.

See our video of the new E-Class below…

The Carisma Auto Design conversion of the Mercedes-Benz Viano provides unlimited scope for the client’s individual choice of materials, audio and visual equipment and made to measure interior design and configuration limited only by their imagination.

Whether the requirement is for discreet luxury travel that takes away the stress of travelling by car, or if the need is for a fully functioning office on wheels, Carisma redesigns and revolutionises the interior of this already premium vehicle, which is available on a new Viano or to existing Viano owners, with an official agreement with Mercedes-Benz for a global warranty on export sales to select countries worldwide.

No two Vianos from Carisma Auto Design are ever the same according to the company. The specification and design of each conversion is totally unique, meeting the individual customer demands and forms part of the completely confidential relationship between Carisma and its clients.

The Viano ‘V1′ can feature on-board Windows or Apple operating systems, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth to ensure your clients are always connected when on the move with audio equipment from Bang & Olufsen to provide the ultimate travelling experience.

Sales and Marketing Director, Carisma Auto Design, Clive Drake said: “The Mercedes-Benz Viano conversion is our flagship model, as it is the ultimate in discreet luxury travel. Many of our clients are high-profile heads of states, celebrities or important business people, it is therefore not always possible for them to travel around in a conspicuous luxury limousine, however they still want the luxury and comfort that is provided by such a vehicle, this is where the Viano from Carisma comes in.

Amongst some of the recent request have been solid crystal ash trays and champagne flutes, integrated premium pen sets with tailored housing, customised seat embroidery, 42” televisions and refrigeration units. All these and much, much, more have all been tastefully hand crafted into vehicles over Carisma Auto Design’s 14 year history.

See our video below for more information…

The BMW 5GT is to get a nip and tuck to offer more boot space and increase specification levels when it arrives in the UK in July.

Just months after it clinched the award for The Chauffeur Car of the Year 2013 in the Under £50,000 category, the BMW 5GT is getting a newly designed boot lid, increasing the luggage compartment by 60 litres.

A higher standard specification is now offered on the whole 5-Series family which includes improved Co2 figures on it’s range of engines. All of them are now EU6 compliant resulting in reductions of between 1-18% in Co2 emissions.
The 520SE now produces only 119g/km.

Each 5-Series gets new LED headlights and BMW’s Business Navigation as standard across the range. The 5GT gets the most changes as it see’s the introduction of the ‘Modern’ and ‘Luxury’ range which is designed to sit between the SE and M-Sport derivatives.

Customers inherit the industry leading BMW full colour Head-up Display, which now displays telephone contacts and   entertainment details, such as track listings, conveniently projected directly into the driver’s field of vision.

The BMW Gran Turismo range now starts at £37,605 OTR for a 520d SE rising to £60,010 OTR for a 550i M Sport. To see the range of BMW Chauffeur Programmes on offer and arrange a test drive, click here.

A wide range of speakers from industry suppliers and government licensing agencies will top the bill at the Licensed Private Hire Car Association Road Show and AGM at the Heathrow Marriot on Thursday 27th June. Chauffeurs and Private Hire companies can now register their attendance online via the associations.

The 2012 event saw presentations from The Law Commission on the changes to industry legislation and Transport for London – this year’s speakers are soon to be announced on the LPHCA website.

Visitors will also be able to get a look inside some of the most popular private hire and chauffeur vehicles and meet suppliers from a range of businesses such as leasing, insurance, training and technology. There are also a few surprises in store which will also be announced in the next week or so.

Lunch is provided for all visitors as well as discounted parking. To register your place, please click here.

DRiVR promises to connect owner-drivers with customers wanting executive cars and suited drivers. The system is a dispatch app on a smart phone in the driver’s car and a real-time booking app for the customers. The system works similar to what Hailo does for taxi drivers, but DRiVR only uses executive cars and suited drivers with a strong focus on corporate work.

DRiVR UK’s Account Director, Hugo Santos Abreu told TheChauffeur.com; “We want to kill driver idle time and dead mileage by introducing a much more efficient system of getting work to UK owner drivers. We give drivers the opportunity to go on our system, do a handful of back-to-back trips, and then go off again.”

The service is free to use for drivers. They keep 80% of the fare and DRiVR handles the payment and fraud risk and payment is weekly. For drivers that don’t own an eligible car (newer Merc. E, S or similar) the company also offers a competitive rental deal. The company launches in London in July with the rest of UK following shortly after.

DRiVR’s Hugo Santos Abreu (pictured) added; “Drivers keep their existing clients and use our free app to get further work and maximise their earnings. We think this is a very powerful proposition. The sign up to drive for us has been off the charts and we can’t wait to launch in UK in July”.

More information can be found on www.drivr.com where the company is also taking sign ups.

Bentley might bill their products as cars to drive in rather than be driven in, but the reality is that not all their owners will want to take the front seat.

That’s particularly true in emerging markets like China, where owners are both younger, and more likely to sit in the back seat. With the new Bentley Flying Spur, it will be a quieter, more comfortable experience too.

It is not often a car manufacturer will talk of softening spring, damper and roll-bar rates, but that’s exactly what Bentley has done with the Flying Spur, the option of a 19-inch wheel also a nod in the direction of comfort, too.

The result is a car that’s different in character, less overly sporting, significantly quieter and riding with far greater composure over less than perfect road surfaces. The W12 petrol engine is mighty, its 625HP driving the all four wheels through a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission that’s quick and near imperceptible in its shifts.

That’s obvious up front or in the back, where Bentley the Flying Spur can be had in twin- or three-seat layouts – twin seats seeing the centre console run though the rear passenger compartment and add an additional stowage area. All Flying Spur now feature side and rear window blinds as standard, while a new Touch Screen Remote (TSR) is housed in the rear console. It gives the rear passengers access to individual climate controls, seat massage, heating and ventilation functions for front and rears seats as well as access to the navigation and entertainment systems, as well as giving a speedometer read out. These are additionally available via a smart-phone app.

Choose the optional Multi Media Specification and there are twin rear screens and full WIFI internet connectivity with a 64GB harddrive, and top-loading multimedia players with DVD, SD and USB slots in each of the rear seat backs. The boot volume is 475 litres, less if you option the Naim for Bentley stereo which reduces space in the rear, as does the optional twin bottle cooler between the rear seats. Even so, the boot is sizeable, though the opening is rather narrow.

Prices for the Flying Spur start at £140,900 for the W12, or £150,220 for the W12 Mulliner, Bentley offering three option packs including, Comfort, Colour and Convenience, the Comfort enhancing seat-based equipment, Colour, expanding the hide and veneer colour splits and choices and Convenience adding driver aids like Adaptive Cruise Control and a rear-view camera.

Kyle Fortune.

A national chauffeur hire firm has responded to customer demands by installing free WIFI across its entire fleet.

Pinnacle Chauffeur Transport which franchises its brand across almost 30 locations across the UK discovered clients needed to be in total communication throughout their journey – so installed state-of-the-art WI-FI units to allow clients complete connectivity.

TheChauffeur.com published an article in March 2013, following a reader survey which suggests WI-FI is the biggest demand from clients. USB and in-car power points were also amongst the most called for features within a chauffeur vehicle.

Trevor Langley from Pinnacle Chauffeur Transport told TheChauffeur.com; “We have always wished to ensure our vehicles are fully loaded with the latest features such as in-car DVD, refrigerator, passenger controlled climate control and heated seats – WiFi was just an extension of this.”

He added; “You might think that many senior people would have their own mobile data solution on their device but of course many can be out of their geographic zone and also with the growth of WiFi devices that people carry nowadays means the potential use of the service is widened”

Although many new chauffeur vehicles are being offered with a WI-FI hotspot as an option, there are a number of units on the market which can be installed for around £500 per vehicle.

Related article:
Clients demand state-of-the-art technology on the move

The UK’s limousine industry has fallen fowl of yet another stunt in full view of the public which was apparently to highlight the dangers of unlicensed vehicles.

The exercise has been described ‘A public vendetta against the limousine trade’ after firefighters tore the roof from a stretched Lincoln Town Car limousine in Covent Garden in full view of the general public recently.

Officials described the event as a ‘good opportunity to highlight the dangers of illegal limousines’, although the Lincoln Town Car is the most popular limo used worldwide with no records of any fatalities in the UK. Images released following the event show a group of firefighters, VOSA officials and Paramedics proudly standing around the cut limo thrusting their arms in the air in delight.

Using a vehicle which was seized during a crackdown in June 2012, the people of London had front row seats to see a number of actors being cut free from the ‘wreckage’. Although the event was to show the public about the risks of hiring an unsafe limo, it’s unclear on how on-lookers were educated as to hire a legal one – it’s also unclear on how chopping the roof off would actually prove the point.

Legislation Officer from the NLCA, Bill Bowling told TheChauffeur.com; ” Why is it whenever there is an impound and a publicity event, it never involves a bus, coach or taxi? Will we ever see the Fire Brigade cutting up a coach?”

He added; “There is a hostility to limousines that runs right the way through legislative bodies, and unfortunately that includes VOSA, the Police and now TfL, and for the first time ever I openly accuse them of carrying out a very public vendetta against the limousine trade. Frankly, it is hard to always remember that we are all supposed to be on the same side with the frequency of the stops in London, and also the attitude of some of the officials.”

Editor of TheChauffeur.com, Paul Gibson said; “It’s becoming frustrating when we learn of these exercises which are just blatant attempts to tarnish the industry. The trade press were not invited this time, as I suppose the media which just broadcasts VOSA’s message to the general public is more valuable.”

He added; “It’s very sad that the authorities have been trying to work with the NLCA for many years, and a lot of time, effort and cost has gone in to building this relationship. Now, all that has been a waste of time as it seems the authorities have stopped working with the trade and are just attempting to close it down! I’m sure there are more illegal taxis and coaches out there which need cutting up and are more of a danger to the general public than limousines will ever be.”

Do you agree with this event? What’s your views on how the authorities deal with the industry? Have your say on our Facebook page here.