THE NORTH Shere's Sun- shine Cabs Ltd. has been sold to a group of Lower Mainland businessmen. By TIMOTHY RB Managing E The deal to sell the innovative North Shore taxi firm was com- pleted Feb. 1 following several months of negotiation. Both sides declined to release the selling price of the company. Mohinder Sull, a North Shore resident, and one of the four prin- cipals of the numbered B.C. com- pany that purchased Sunshine, said the new owners will be injecting capital into Sunshine to upgrade the luxury taxi service and expand its current 22-car fleet. “I’ve ridden in cabs all over the world, asid | realized that we’ve got a good cab company here,’’ he said, ‘‘we’ve got the opportunity to improve its quality and pres- entation.”’ Sull added that he was attracted to Sunshine because it was a unique operation. “It’s not like every other cab company,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s not a commodity, it’s a speciality.”’ Three of the four new owners have interests in other taxi licences elsewhere in the L.cwer Mainland. In addition to Sull, the other new co-owners of Sunshine are Paul Gili, Sukhpaul Jhooty and Tejpaul Jhooty. All| previous shareholders in Sunshine were bouzht out by the numbered company, but no im- mediate personnel changes are planned. Tlie new owners have said they plan to continue Sunshine’s focus on high-quality Cacillac cab ser- vice, and ‘‘help it grow with the people we have.” According to a Sunshine press release, Herb Latreille, who has been with Sunshine for just over three years, will remain with the company as its general manager, and Jim Diana, one of Sunshine’s co-founders, will take over as the cab company’s marketing -sepre- sentative. The release also stated that the goal of the new owners will be ‘‘to improve Sunshine’s excellent repu- tation, philosophy and image. The fleet will be enhanced to help im- Business .............. 38 Classified Ads. . 44 Editorial Page. «6 Food....... Bob Hunter. Lifestyles ... Mailbox .... North Shore Now. Sports ..........- TV Listings...... What's Going On.. STICKING A symbolic sold sign on one of Sunshine Cabs’ Cadillac taxis prove appearance, safety, passen- ger comfort and response time.’’ The company has 28 taxi licences. Three new cars were added to the Sunshine fleet over the weekend, and Latreifle said the company shouid be up to 28 cars within a couple of weeks. He added that Sunshine will consequently be hiring additional drivers. Sunshine currently employs ap- proximately 80 full and part-time staff, including about 60 drivers. Diana said the sale of Sunshine was good news for the company and its employees. “We're excited about the new Lost skier faces overni From page 1 we would charge these guys,’’ he said. ‘‘But the circumstances were very severe on Sunday. My posi- tion is to give them the benefit of the doubt. Anybody could have got lost that day.*’ Meanwhile, the NSRT’*s McMordie moved on to Seymour to assist in a larger search under- way for the missing North Van- couver skier, Thirty-five NSRT, Lions Bay and Coquitlam rescue team members searched from Sunday to Monday afternoon for Fossum. The lost skier had become sepa- rated from friends and had fallen while skiing in powder snow. He spent the night shivering under a tree, Said North Vancouver RCMP search coordinator Const. Frank Campbell, ‘‘He took a bit of a tumble. He was scratched up a lit- tle bit."” Fossum suffered a mild concus- sion after rolling downhill for ap- proximately 150 feet. Said Fossum, ‘‘t found shelter down in this gully about a quarter of a mile from where I crashed. | dug under a tree where there were branches from the tree and made a small hole." He woke up every half hour throughout the night. About 14 inches of snow felt that night. By direction they (the owners) are planning,” he said. Sunshine, established by a group of North Shore residents, initiated its Cadillac taxi service in 14982 after receiving approval to operate a 25-licence luxury cab service on the North Shore. It has remained an innovative company ever since. In addition to establishing the Lower Mainland’s first luxury cab service using Cadillac and Lincoln cars and drivers dressed in suits and ties, Sunshine also set up a system of taxi licence ownership that is unique in the Vancouver area. Unlike most taxi companies, noon Monday, he heard searchers calling out his name. He was eventually located in the Depencier Lake area, northeast of Mystery Peak. He was out of the area by 2:30 p.m. The last of the searchers were 3 - Wednesdays, February 7. 1990 - North Shore News NEWS photo Terry Peters is company general manager Herb Latreille (left) and marketing repre- sentative Jim Diana. Sunshine, which oripinally launched its luxury cab service in 1982, was sold Feb. 1 toa group of Lower Mainiaad businessmen. whose individual cars are driver- owned, Sunshine owns all its cars and taxi licences. Sunshine was also the first taxi company in North America to in- stall cellular phones in its cabs. And under the direction of Sun- shine co-founder and former com- pany president Richard Hughes, Sunshine spearheaded an unsuc- cessful campaign to regionalize Lower Mainland taxi licensing. Hughes argued that the system, which would leave a taxi com- pany’s home base area open to competitors, would promote open taxi competition and better cus- tomer service and break up area taxi monopolies. onS3 out of the field by 4:30'p.m. Mon- day. A helicopter was held on standby to aid in the search, but poor weather conditions prevented its use. Delores skier's the “can't Fossum, mother, young say But the concept was opposed by the Vancouver Taxi Owners Association whose representatives argued that it would radically deflate the value of taxi licences and result in taxi chaos. Sunshine also fought for the right to provide service to the air- port to customers cutside its North Shore home base. But it lost the battle in 1988 after a provincial cabinet committee denied Sun- shine’s application to appeal to the cabinet for a licence amendment that would have allowed its drivers to pick up fares anywhere in B.C. and take them to the Vancouver International Airport. ght ordeal NEWS photo Mike Wakefield NORTH SHORE Search and Rescue Feam member Ken Hopkinson Veft) and North Vancouver ROMP Const. Frank Campbell map strategy during Monday's search for a North Vancouver skier who was lost overnight on Mount Seymour. enough"’ about the searchers’ ef- forts. “Tt was just a totally positive ef- fort put out by them. These guys are giants,"* she said. She did not give up hope during the ordeal.