A TAXI company is marking a new investment in its fleet by raising money for a charity that is helping older people cope with the winter cold.

Gary and Neil Taylor, owners of All The Sevens, are pledging to donate 10p from every journey in November and December to the Wiltshire Community Foundation’s Surviving Winter campaign.

The community foundation has been running the campaign to help tackle fuel poverty by giving grants of £300.

The South West has the UK’s highest rate of fuel poverty – those who cannot afford to spend the average amount needed to heat their homes. Across the region the National Office of Statistics says 11.4 per cent of homes live in fuel poverty.

But the same statistics say that there are pockets of Wiltshire where up to 36 per cent of households fall into that bracket.

Gary Taylor, 41, said: “We are delighted to be able to support this very worthwhile cause. You don’t want to think of anyone suffering from the cold and if we can help people by doing this then that’s great.

“We see it as giving something back because maybe some of the people affected have been our customers.”

He and his brother launched the company with just three cars in 2014. Now they have 43 vehicles on their system and have just invested more than £200,000 in brand new vehicles to ensure a smoother ride and wider availability, including four top-of-the-range people carriers to meet the growing demand for airport runs.

“It has been an amazing growth and there’s no way we expected to grow this fast,” said Mr Taylor.

“We’ve always made sure we invested the profits back into the business and all of the investment we’ve made has been because of the demand.

“The majority of our drivers are self-employed and only pay us commission on the jobs they do. We have got a fantastic team but are always on the lookout for new drivers because the business is growing so quickly.”

The firm has taken on a number of Wiltshire Council contracts and has a growing portfolio of private company accounts.

For more details about the Surviving Winter campaign go to wiltshirecf.org.uk.

To find out more about All The Sevens go to allthesevens.co.uk.