Tuctuc Ltd
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Tuctuc Ltd was an
auto rickshaw An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many terms in various countries including auto, auto rickshaw, baby taxi, mototaxi, pigeon, jonnybee, bajaj ...
operator in Brighton,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It operated for just over a year from the summer of 2006 until late 2007, but opposition from taxi operators and licence breaches "made the service unworkable" and the vehicles were withdrawn. In 2009, they were used again for weekend sightseeing tours of the city.


History

The company was started in 2005 by Dominic Ponniah, a British-Asian who got the idea after a business trip in India. Tuctuc Ltd started off with 12 Bajaj Retros in various livery designs, including the
Union Jack The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...
, a strawberry, Swiss cheese and
Burberry Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessorie ...
check. Ponniah imported the vehicles from India and added some features such as
anti-roll bar An anti-roll bar (roll bar, anti-sway bar, sway bar, stabilizer bar) is a part of many automobile suspensions that helps reduce the body roll of a vehicle during fast cornering or over road irregularities. It connects opposite (left/right) whee ...
s, seatbelts and rudimentary weather protection. The three-wheeled vehicles had a maximum speed of and ran on
compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...
, for which a filling station was provided at
Brighton Marina Brighton Marina is an artificial marina situated in Brighton, England. It features a working harbour and residential housing alongside a variety of leisure, retail and commercial activities. The construction of the marina itself took place bet ...
. Ponniah applied for a passenger bus licence to run services on fixed routes between Brighton Marina, central Brighton and central
Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...
. Brighton and Hove City Council granted the company a licence to operate in October 2005; it was the first licensed auto rickshaw service established outside Asia. After a formal launch at
Brighton Racecourse Brighton Racecourse is an English horse racing venue located a mile to the northeast of the centre of Brighton, Sussex, owned by the Arena Racing Company. Location and layout It is situated on Whitehawk Hill, on the edge of the South Downs, ab ...
on 6 July 2006, the vehicles began running later that month for the summer season, charging a flat rate of £2.50 for any journey between
Brighton railway station Brighton railway station is the southern terminus of the Brighton Main Line in England, and the principal station serving the city of Brighton, East Sussex. It is from via . The station is managed by Govia Thameslink Railway, which operat ...
, Hove and Brighton Marina. In the same month, Ponniah stated that he intended to import another 12 vehicles in order to start similar operations in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom: Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh were planned to follow London, where services were expected to start in May 2007. The company immediately faced "stiff opposition" from taxi drivers. A body representing 1,500 drivers in the city attempted to take legal action against Tuctuc Ltd, initially citing increased congestion and claiming that the vehicles were unsafe, then stating that the service was not operating to a timetable as required by the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981. An investigation by the
Traffic commissioner The Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain are responsible for the licensing and regulation of the operators of heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches, and the registration of local bus services in Great Britain. History The Road Traffic A ...
in October 2006 found that the company was failing to operate to its timetables 50% of the time, and the following month levied a fine of £16,500 (reduced on appeal to £8,000) for breaching its passenger bus licence terms. The timetable was then amended, but Ponniah stated this made the operation "unworkable" and withdrew the service for the winter season. This resulted in another enquiry by the Traffic commissioner, who investigated whether the company's licence had been breached again by ceasing operations without giving a statutory notice period. Another setback occurred in September 2006 when the Burberry-themed rickshaw, known as the "Chavrolet" and "voted the most popular design by the public", had to be redesigned after Burberry threatened legal action over trademark infringement. Ponniah announced a revised service in April 2007. Instead of operating along fixed routes to specific destinations, the vehicles would offer pre-booked journeys anywhere in the city, using a different type of public service vehicle licence. Permission was granted to operate up to 30 vehicles, and Ponniah purchased 10 new vehicles with a larger capacity (up to six passengers rather than three). Some of the original three-seater auto rickshaws were retained and stayed in service alongside the six-seaters. The new service began on 23 May 2007, but in January 2008 operations ceased permanently and the Traffic commissioner imposed another fine and revoked the company's licence because of further breaches. No auto rickshaws have run in the city since then, except for a period during the summer of 2008, when some vehicles were used on sightseeing tours of Brighton's tourist attractions.


Notes


References


Bibliography

* History of Brighton and Hove Transport in Brighton and Hove Rickshaws {{Transport-company-stub