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Carndonagh firm takes on the world
18.12.07
A TAXI texting service
is set to take the world by storm from its hub in
Carndonagh.
First conceived as a service to help hearing and
speech impaired people book a cab, Text A Taxi, is
operating throughout England, Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland and went live only yesterday in
Dublin.
The man behind the global service is Lawrence
Kendall, who came up with the idea three years ago
in a pub in his home city of Bolton, England. |
"I was having a drink
with my friend when two of his friends joined us.
They were hearing and speech impaired and they
relied very heavily on their mobile phones," said
Lawrence. "When it was time to go home, my friend
said he would have to book cabs for his two friends.
I lay awake that night thinking about it and the
next day I booked the domain name textataxi.com.
Lawrence, 39, chose Inishowen as his base after
moving here several years ago with his Derry- born
wife Lynda.
With a strong background in |
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software development
and telecommunications, he has invested a whopping
€500,000 in the business so far and is in the
process of recruiting staff for his base at Pound
Street, Carndonagh. He hopes to employ five people
in the coming weeks.
Textataxi.com is his trademark with worldwide
patents pending on the product. The company is
currently in talks with a US firm keen to franchise
the model in the States while Australia and New
Zealand are target markets for the new year. The
service, which is operational in Derry and Limavady,
is expected to go live in Inishowen early next year.
"The students in Derry are loving the service. For
people who are not hearing or speech impaired,
Textataxi is also very handy when they are in busy
and noisy environments and want to book a taxi,"
added the company founder. Calls cost a flat rate of
€1 with no charge for confirmation texts. The
Carn-based businessman says users can earn txtmiles™
with every booking they make, allowing them to cash
them in for gifts. If you would like to find out
more visit
www.textataxi.com . |
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