Climatecars, which is an environmentally-friendly taxi service covering Greater London with a fleet of over 100 hybrid and electric cars, has secured additional bank funding of more than £600,000.

The funding lines negotiated by the company are a combination of asset finance and working capital.

The first line from Climatecars’ bank, Clydesdale, is an extension of their asset finance line to £400,000, which will allow the company to significantly expand its fleet of hybrid Toyota Prius Cars.

In addition to asset finance, Clydesdale has provided it with a working capital line of £200,000, to help with any cash flow issues as they continue to grow their base of business account customers, who are generally on 30-day payment terms.

Toyota Financial Services has also increased their asset finance credit lines for Climatecars by another £200,000 to over half a million pounds.

The credit provided by the bank and asset finance companies is enough to enable Climatecars to continue to grow significantly and take on more clients. All of Climatecars lenders have lent on the basis of a continuing track record of profitability.

During the past few years, managing director and company founder Nicko Williamson (28) has concentrated on the strategic organic growth of Climatecars.

Johnny Rowe, partner at Clydesdale Bank’s London West End Business Banking Centre, said the bank was delighted to lend its continued support to the company by increasing its credit line.

He added: “Climatecars has a particularly robust business plan and financial reporting system. That means Nicko has an enviable knowledge of just how his business is performing, allowing him to make decisions quickly and decisively.

“For us, that knowledge and control breeds confidence in him and reassures us that our investment in the company is secure and based on the most up to date business information possible.”

Williamson said: "Climatecars lenders conducted thorough analysis of our business and spent time with our management getting to understand our business.

“It is this somewhat old fashioned approach that we believe is crucial to how banks need to operate moving forward. Gone are the days of irresponsible lending, we need old school banking relationships for UK SMEs.”