South Wales based Veezu, the UK’s fastest growing taxi and private hire technology platform, has made a £1.75m investment in a new fleet of hybrid cars to help reduce its carbon footprint.

The firm, which operates five regional brands across England and Wales – including Dragon Taxis in Newport, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan - has added 60 Toyota Corolla Touring all self-charging hybrid electric vehicles to its fleet. Plus, a further 30 low emission cars are expected to be added to the fleet later this year.

The first batch of cars hit the road this month.

The low emission vehicles will be deployed evenly between across Veezu’s regional brands Amber Cars, A2B Radio Cars, Go Carz, Dragon Taxis and V Cars in Leeds, Midlands, South Wales and the southwest of England.

There are currently two Clean Air Zones throughout 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, 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.

“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.”