05/07/2026
When I started Harryâs Taxis, there were very few viable independent taxi firms around. The big companies had huge advertising budgets, established brands and years of experience behind them.
For me, this was a complete Hail Mary.
My goal for the first year wasnât to become the biggest or the busiest. It was simply to survive.
If Iâm honest, despite wanting it to succeed more than anything, Iâve always been a bit of a pessimist. I genuinely expected it to fail.
Those early days were incredibly hard. Trying to find the right market, getting the name out there, creating systems, building routines and learning how to run a business from the ground up. Every day felt like another lesson.
Fast forward to today, and Iâm incredibly proud of what weâve built.
We now have a fantastic team, and something Iâm equally proud of is the network of independent local taxi businesses weâve built relationships with. Every one of them is on their journeys on the challenges of running a business as I am.
Running a business isnât easy. Itâs stressful, demanding and, at times, completely thankless. But itâs also rewarding, exciting and one of the biggest personal challenges youâll ever take on.
When I first started, I heard plenty of comments like:
⢠âYouâll never make it work.â
⢠Other drivers saying âYouâll only give everyone else the rubbish jobs while you keep the best ones.â
In the last few weeks we didnât have any availability for one of our regular customers so we reached out to Bex and she took our regular to Scotland and as of late c&p were off to stand-stead in London.
Thankfully, the people around me know thatâs never been what Harryâs Taxis is about.
Today, weâve got Swanny and Dan looking after the minibus, Ruth and me covering the cars, and we work alongside some brilliant local independent operators, including
Jonnoâs Taxi,
Darlington Wheel + Minibus,
Bex.Taxi022
C&P Taxis
the industry independent leader Woodys taxi service Darlington,
Brian Burniston K & L Travel
Arc travel minibus
Tracy Simpson
Weâre not trying to build an empire.
Weâre helping to build strong, independent local businesses that put customers first, support one another and prove that working together is better than working against each other.
I couldnât be prouder of what weâre creating, and this is only the beginning.
So watch this space.