Tuctuc Ltd was an auto rickshaw

Auto rickshaw

An auto rickshaw or three-wheeler is a usually three-wheeled cabin cycle for private use and as a vehicle for hire. It is a motorized version of the traditional pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw...

 operator in Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The name tuctuc and Web address tuctuc.co.uk are now used by Carbonyte UK Ltd, who sell TVS tuctuc's and manufacture the Carbonyte Pod, a van version of the tuctuc. Carbonyte also manufacture a electric and hybrid version of the tuctuc.

History

The company was started in June 2006 by Dominic Ponniah, a British-Asian who got the idea after traveling on a business trip in India. Tuctuc Ltd started off with 12 Bajaj

Bajaj Auto

Bajaj Auto is a major Indian vehicle manufacturer started by Jamnalal Bajaj from Rajasthan in the 1930s. It is based in Pune, Maharashtra, with plants in Chakan , Waluj and Pantnagar in Uttaranchal. The oldest plant at Akurdi now houses the R&D centre Ahead...

 Retros in various livery designs ranging from the Union Jack to Burberry

Burberry

Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house, manufacturing clothing, fragrance, and fashion accessories. Its distinctive tartan pattern has become one of its most widely copied trademarks. Burberry is most famous for its iconic trench coat, which was invented by founder Thomas Burberry...

 check.

Ponniah investigated different possible licensing régimes and chose to license the service as a passenger bus service. Low capacity led to problems meeting the scheduled timetables. The company was fined £16,500 for breaching their bus licence terms, but this was cut to £8,000 on appeal.

Burberry forced the company to take the 'Chavrolet' rickshaw off the road, claiming a violation of Burberry's copyright. Dominic Ponniah, manager of Tuctuc Ltd, then decided to close the business until spring 2007 when 10 new, larger autorickshaws would be operational.

The company was forced to remove its stop signs from the seafront after it was found they were on listed lampposts.

Tuctuc restarted on May 23 2007 with just six new Thailand style tuk tuks, but with all the former 12 Bajaj Auto Rickshaws still operational. Tuctuc had tried to sell them off but received no bids. Tuctuc switched to operating a dial-a-ride service which meant passengers had to book before travelling. The service stopped operations in Brighton shortly after.